The Most Spoiled Generation

My grandparents struggled first through the Great Depression as children, then, through the greatest war in the history of this earth, WWII. My father was raised to make as much money as possible and not to spend it. I was raised by a rich father, but not spoiled due to his frugality. In college I was surrounded by young adults with similar socioeconomic backgrounds as I, though most felt entitled to luxury.

As my college career was winding down, I found a great trend in my generation of expecting things to land in our laps. I recall one girl's comment about Obama's election as expecting him to "fix things." Nothing could have bothered me more. When did our country stop being ruled by the people? When did we surrender our power to change things? The answer, of course, is never but we will never change anything unless we the people do it.

The recent eco-revolution-- act global, buy local and organic-- is an example that touches base for me. The complexities of this concept philosophically are best for a different toned blog, but it became apparent that the common thought was the government was responsible for doing this. People I had befriended throughout my years gardened, hunted, and foraged because it was inexpensive and a lifestyle. It wasn't a political move for us to teach ourselves self sufficiency, it was what made us happy. It derived from the desire to separate ourselves from the consumer, materialistic culture that plagues this country. In fact, most government programs, notably the EPA, have hindered farmers.

On Africa, the farming is all local and organic and 80% of the population farms. On North America, the majority of the farming uses pesticides, though more organic pesticides are being developed to suite the demands for organic produce, and less than 8% of our population farms. I do not usually throw out statistics, but it takes a lot of labor to produce food organically. This is a point that I cannot ignore, despite my wanting to beleive that utopian permaculture is possible.

To finish my message to my spoiled generation, do not expect society and industry to change for you, this will only prolong the current system. If you want something, then build it. Somewhere along the line our society went from builders to buyers, it's time to look at a new angle.

Try this: Walk outside. Dig your hands into something dirty like soil or mulch. Then take three deep breaths and find something to sit on for 10 minutes... OUTSIDE. Ask yourself a question (NOT a 'yes' or 'no' and preferably something you don't know the answer to) and try to answer it.