You don't need to look too hard
to find someone who has really been through hell. Extreme poverty, lack of
healthcare, abusive families, war survivors and refugees, orphans... those
things are not at all easy to survive through. Recovery is even more difficult.
We admire those who can pull
through. While we especially idolize those characters with dark and troubled
pasts who become truly amazing people, we also extend this to the real life
equivalents. This attitude of admiration, however, stands in stark contrast to
the disgust and vicious degradation people tend to have towards those who have
suffered like the many severe traumas like those listed above but have failed
to fully recover or, worse, deteriorate as human beings because of what they
been through. If you have doubts about that, I suggest you examine the legal
system. We often care little, if at all, why people have become who they are.
It's so much easier just to punish them by locking them away or executing them.
That way, we can bask in euphoria, having convinced ourselves that any problems
come from the individual. We don't have to *gasp* examine our society, and
possibly (oh the horror!) actually have to change things!
NNNNNEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
This kind of scorn has other
forms. I have heard many an adult talk scathingly and bitterly about my
generation (Y and younger). They say we've had it easy, that we think we are
the best, and that we are spoiled brats who think the world exists to serve us.
Sadly, social science research has proven them right.
I an not unsympathetic to that
viewpoint. Believe me, I've encountered many a Generation Y/Z entitlement king
or queen in my lifetime, and I take social science research very seriously. But
sometimes I feel like I am in a no man's land, that older people will not
respect me due to my age no matter what.
So I feel obliged to state the
following: I know many people my age who are not spoiled in the slightest, and
they have been through A LOT. They actually deserve much more than they have
been handed, if you ask me.
As for myself... well, I think I
can say without apology or doubt that I do not ask for much, and I have tried
to always be the best person I can. I live fairly comfortably, and I have not
experienced anything REMOTELY close to the severe problems like those I listed
in the beginning, but that doesn't mean I don't ever face troubles and setbacks
that I must deal with. I have my faults, but I constantly work to inhibit them.
I work hard, I have a goal (in the social sciences), and I have long since
vowed to treat every human being in the best manner possible. I would say all
the same about my friends.
Yes, I'm guilty of being a bit of
a video game nerd too, but hey, I like action-adventure and interactive
stories. Plus, I need something to do when I'm tired and when my friends are
unavailable.
And as tempting as it may be at
times, I cannot call myself as a "heroic" or "special"
person in any sense of the definition. To keep myself in check, whenever I feel
like I'm the protagonist, I forcefully label myself a villain protagonist. I am
flawed, and kind of a loser, I tell myself, and I must be redeemed as much as
possible.
In any case, I'm hoping that,
whatever my generation's priorities are, that they become the right ones. The
good people work to influence others the real duty all of us have: to get the
world ready for a great transformation. As many experts have noted, we are on
the verge of an enormous social and culture transformation on so many levels;
our generation must be the builders of that ark and the mentors to the future
youngsters who will eventually sail it.
