|
Empire State Building
350 Fifth Ave, Suite 7313
New York, NY 10118
phone: (800) 704-6512
inquiry@thesyndicatednews.com
SSL Certs
|
America’S Youth: What’S On Your Mind?
|
by Heather Langone
Heather Langone has written for such reputable companies as Instill Corp., O'Melveny & Myers LLP and The Asian Television Network. Currently she is working on developing a TV series.
|
Everyone Will Think You Are a Loser
Brianna* looks at me and with complete confidence, bravado really, she says:
“No we don’t tell our parents everything. No!”
“Why?” I ask. She calculates as if doing a math problem.
“They wouldn’t be able to handle it, none of it.”
“Like what? Drugs, sex, what?” I prod.
“Yeah”, she whispers, suddenly shy.
“Like… that kids do drugs, have sex you mean?” I push.
“No. How many kids do it and how much we talk about it”, she retorts.
“Oh. Well what else? What else is on your minds?” I press.
“Clothes. Shopping. Clothes”, she chortles.
“Well obviously. You like shopping. But is that super-important? What happens if you don’t have the right clothes, really, like if you look fine but don’t have the best jeans or whatever?”, I ask.
“Nothing. Nothing happens at all. You won’t be popular though”, she ponders.
“Why? If you look good but you are not in the right clothes, why what happens?” I ask.
“Everyone will think you are a loser”, she grizzles.
Gently pressing forward I ask, “So what else do you guys talk about… meaningful things-do you cry or is that not cool?” She suddenly appears really young and answers me almost with a baby voice.
“We do. Mostly about parents, lots of kids talk about their parents getting divorced and think it’s their fault.” Brianna waits for a response.
A missed opportunity, I felt myself about to change the subject because I was suddenly uncomfortable knowing my precious niece was the victim of a bitter break-up. I could have seized the opportunity. I did not. I could not for whatever reason. I decide to move on.
“What about terrorism, do you talk about it?” I could not resist going to this place as my niece is not always this open.
“Only when it happens. It’s too much to bring up when things are normal. Sometimes we ask if we are safe here. But no one really gets into it.”
She changes the subject. “Clothes. Clothes. Oh and who I.M.’d who…” She trails off, laughing.
Desperately Seeking Perspective
Weeks go by and I am still searching for a way to write this article. I just cannot think of what to write. Certainly the conversation with my 14 year-old niece was telling, but what did it really reveal? Somehow it bothered me, yet I could not fully express my own feelings. Very connected to my own youth, I try to compare and understand how the two experiences differed. I am unable. Terrorism on our own shores, there in lay a major difference but that did not seem to be foremost on her mind. So I decide that I will talk to my older niece, *Carol. She is 19 years old. Markedly different from her sister, she never cared about popularity or boys. Her main focus was school and still is. Now a student at a major university, I thought she might give me some perspective.
“Carol, what is on the minds of youth today?”
She blasts, “Hah! Well besides the idiots who just sleep around and party?”
Knowing that she is quite the opinionated woman, I gently remind her of the question.
“Yes, just in general, Carol.”
“Well I mean I think [like] back to senior year and me and all of my friends were in tons of clubs and I was at the top of my class and God… 700’s and 600’s on my SAT’s and that was most of my friends ya know? And I did not get into any of my choices for college! [Like] now I am glad because I love this school but I mean you have to have like a 4.9 GPA now and soccer and AP {more AP than I even had} and God a freaking novel at this point. I don’t know. That’s a lot and I can’t imagine if you have no money how you can compete. I mean I’m not rich but there are people way worse and if I could not go to a top college, what happens if you have no money, average grades, and you have to baby sit your brothers and sisters, say, after school so you can’t do sports? It’s crazy now. So I suppose if you are asking me what is on the minds of youth today, besides the ones who are not frying their brain, huffing, I don’t know I might say they are probably figuring out how to get Ritalin so they can compete. On my mind right now, Israel. Israel, the state of the Middle East, and school, school, school! Oh, and I am thinking about what I am going to do for graduate school because even though I am a writer, I ‘ll never make money doing that! I just refuse to be poor. I think I’m going to law school.
All through high-school, my niece, a voracious reader, talked about nothing but reading literature and how she dreamed of becoming a writer. I think about that and just push it out of my brain. “She will make a great lawyer”, I silently tell myself.
Katrina Brings Perspective with the Rain
Weeks pass. The article is still on my mind and all that I have discovered is that money has certainly replaced idealism and passion. I suppose, to myself that my niece Carol has it right, or does she? Again I am perplexed by this article and decide it just cannot be written. For the first time in my writing career, it has happened. I have writer’s block. More time passes and I am resolute that this article is just not for me. So why is it gnawing at me still? Then Katrina happens into the picture and my perspective is crystal clear.
One Little Boy in the Storm Makes It All Clear
Katrina destroys New Orleans. A nation sits mesmerized by the images of poor people begging for water. One little boy in the storm makes it all clear for the rest of us when he looks into the camera and states: “What is going on here? This is pathetic.” And, I suddenly know why I am stumped. We, all of us once youth, have raised a generation whose focus is on bigger, better, shinier, more expensive, more competitive, more dangerous, sexier, higher, nipped and tucked; we have raised a generation forced to be more cavalier because caring too much will get in the way. There is very little time to stop to hope or dream for better days.
Do They Know Too Much?
Some would say, the sixties generation cared too much. The seventies generation partied too much, but dared to dream. My generation made it faster, better and more expensive. Does this generation know too much? Somewhere along the way while we were creating the fastest modem and the best jeans, better education, did we forget to expose our children to simple beauty and compassion and peaceful ideals. Is this young nation the generation who will be known for too much, too soon?
Idealism: while she does not buy a fast car, she changes literature and art and minds. She breeds compassion. A violent storm named Katrina, showed all of us, in case we had forgotten, that this nation at its core is based on hope and compassion, compassion for your neighbor, for a stranger, for rich and for poor. What should American youth think about today, dream about in order to be the generation without needless atrocities like the suffering of the helpless souls in New Orleans, left to fend for themselves in the wake of a color-blind, class-free storm sent by Mother-Nature ? After all young people just think about what is deemed of value.
The Knowing Makes Us Responsible
While I dig to discover what weighs on the minds of American youth today, I realize the importance of creating dialogue with young Americans. I discover that they model our values. Senseless killings over sneakers or children taking Ritalin to compete can end when we realize that what is on the mind of American youth today is the very fruit that we feed them, however sweet, however rotten. Every ounce of their being rests on our shoulders. I too love nice cars and six-figure salaries. However, in today’s world, a world where stark reality seems to be the preferred choice, where most children raised on T.V. are jaded, desensitized, I am convinced that someday, ideals of this very adult young population, colored by the values that we instilled, will come back to haunt us all.
The truth is, I could not figure how to express what is on the minds of American youth today because the knowing makes me somehow responsible. And now that you have read this, now that you know more, the responsibility lies with all of us.
*All the names in this article have been changed.
Published: Jul 11,2008 12:38
|
Andy Cowan
Andy Cowan, an award-winning writer, whose credits include Cheers and Seinfeld, regularly contributes humor pieces to the Los Angeles Times and the CBS Jack FM Radio Network.
Paul M. J. Suchecki
Paul M. J. Suchecki has more than 30 years of experience as an award winning writer, producer, and cameraman. He's written numerous newspaper and magazine articles. Currently he writes, produces and shoots for LA CityView Channel 35 and his more than 250 articles for Ehow.com are approaching half a million readers.
Coby Kindles
Coby Kindles is a freelance journalist, screenplay writer and essayist. She has been a staff writer at Knight Ridder and a regular contributor to The Associated Press.
Debbie Milam
Debbie Milam is a syndicated columnist for United Press International, an occupational therapist, family success consultant, and motivational speaker with more than 20 years experience. Her work on stress management, spirituality, parenting, and special-needs children has been featured in over 300 media outlets including First for Women, The Miami Herald, Elle, Ladies Home Journal, The Hallmark Channel, PBS and WebMD.
Dan Rafter
Dan Rafter has covered the residential real estate industry for more than 15 years. He has contributed real estate stories to the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Business 2.0 Magazine, Home Magazine, Smart HomeOwner Magazine and many others.
Jack Nargundkar
Jack Nargundkar has been repeatedly published in Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. He is also an author of "The Bush Diaries" published in July 2005.
|