This Generations Attitude vs.Ours

"Sitting silently in a cafe can really broaden ones perspective on how people in society are doing as a whole, just by politely listening in on conversations and people watching. But, while people watching can take place anywhere, I'm going to derive this first blog from my own personal interactions with those of my generation and what I have gathered to be the primary mentality/attitude toward our future and how my own attitude does/does not coincide with those beliefs. Though this can be a broad topic and many of you may believe it to be too broad, it needs to remain this way for the productive expansion of the first topic. "
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Essay blog 1:

It's Saturday night, and a bunch of us are sitting with our sweating beers in our usual circle to play the question, answer game. Though we do not intentionally realize that this is what we do after late night parties, it has become a fairly normal routine. After attending the usual college party consisting of stopping by Tony's, then a friends beat up apartment for a party, then when our drunken stupor starts to wear off, we end up sitting around talking about life. On this one particular Saturday night, the conversation took a unique turn and got serious, the type of seriousness where truth overpowers judgment. One person had the podium and the rest of us listened till they were finished and it continued like this for two or three hours.

I remember a few of my friends asking the very basic questions: " What's happening to our society? Where did all this apathy come from? Did the Europeans have it right all along? "What's going to happen to us when we graduate? Should or shouldn't we procreate? "Has society progressed past relationships?" and so on and so forth. These, being the basic questions many generations have asked themselves, but for our specific generation, our opinions will determine this societies future. I've noticed that many of us are very concerned, confused, frustrated, and even angry about the current state of our lives. I heard a variety of responses to these questions, some more passionate than others but the most popular and agreed upon answers consisted of;

" The news /media have really screwed up society in more ways than one, but it also has improved it. Though, it has become an unreliable source of information anymore.
"I don't watch the news like I used too, I've become very cautious about believing what the media presents to me."
"I think our society has turned to apathy because they are either angry and think this culture is a shit hole with no way out or they believe their words have been said by others and that it didn't make a difference, so why should theirs? They just stop caring and worry about their own little worlds instead and to be honest, I'm getting fed up with it!"
"It's like we don't stand for anything anymore, where are our speakers and liberators?"
" To be honest, I loved Europe when I visited. It is much slower passed and they take their time with life. They work to live, not live to work unlike Americans. But I will say, I started to miss home little by little."
" I have no idea whats going to happen, all I know is that I want to travel and live a simple quiet life and have someone to come home too."
" I've thought about joining the Peace Corp."
" I want to get married in hopefully no longer than 5 to 10 years from now and have a family."
" Yeah, I think people should procreate if they want too. It's that animalistic desire for survival."
" I don't think society has evolved past relationships, because we all yearn to be connected to someone, to love and be loved regardless of societal progression. But, society has made it easier to live a single life for men and women."

After adding my own ten cents, I thought about everyone's response and how each one was presented with passion and sincerity. Each had a valid point with credibility backing it and no one put the other down, which made the night one of incredible ease. I've come to the conclusion that I agreed more so than disagreed with the points that were made. I think we have all become so fed up with the direction our society has taken, but instead of allowing complete apathetic tendencies give way, its time that we stood for something, instead standing for nothing. An opinion many seem to have, but I have met many who want nothing to do with it and choose apathy instead. I will say this guys, I hope people take back the podium that was stripped from us by our fathers/ mothers generation. We don't have a Martin Luther King, a Lennon, or a Bobby Kennedy etc. Our parents did not provide us with a platform to speak from, it burned when that generation chose climbing the corporate ladder and expanding business as the main objective. They had high hopes, which led us to here. It's time we deviate and create our own path, which many of seem to want to do but don't know where to start or which direction to take. I think its in the pace and way we live our lives, what we are passionate about and what we stand for.

It seems to me that many of us want to become more synchronized with nature (in many ways) closer to peace, immersed in culture, knowledge, art and surprisingly even family (friends, relatives or lovers). Many of us including myself are saying screw this I just want to be and live my damn life, but we are not entitled to that unless we stand for it.

I had a conversation with a good friend of mine not long ago about how there is really no point in being happy about anything anymore. While that is a point, we only get one shot, one life, so many breaths, words, actions, kisses, and conversations. We are all exactly where we are supposed to be, but never forget that life is something of consequence and meaning, to live it with passion and purpose. Two people made you out of love and passion, and because of that you are perfect/worthy of opinion.

-Stephanie