This question of the brokenness of humanity is one I often find myself contemplating. It is, in fact, the one existential question that continually creeps back into my consciousness. I guess I believe that if I can find the answer I can help fix man.
Egotistical? Sure. Impossible? Probably. It is, after all, an existential question and there is always at least a touch of subjectivity in anything philosophical.
The truth though is that humanity's brokenness is not a new concept, at least not if history is any indication. From violent acts in the name of God, to rampant greed in the name of progress; humanity has an abundance of examples of what it means to be selfish. Who knows though, maybe we have only been convinced of this. Fear is the greatest motivator (and the easiest way to control the masses). But that is another question entirely...
As I ponder the question of our brokenness, I have to remind myself that the answers are rarely if ever absolute. Subjectivity is always going to lead to heated conversations. With this in mind, take my writings as simply my opinion.
As I contemplate what caused society to become broken, one quote always sticks out: "I'm sorry, there is no race today; we don't have enough blue ribbons for everyone." It seems that in our desire to ensure that no one's feelings are hurt, we have lost sight of the fact that the greatest growth comes from failure, not success. Instead of holding people accountable for their actions our current society has been trained to either tell people that they are special and great or ignore their aberrant behavior.
Any idea what this breeds? Sociopaths.
Think about it, if you took a test and failed or tried out for a team and were cut and simply had to raise your voice to be given another shot (or worse, a better grade or spot), at what point would you begin to believe that this was normal? If you were the head of a major corporation that fleeced millions of people out of their homes and livelihood and, when caught, were rewarded with a bailout instead of jail, would you ever change?
Have you ever noticed how sensitive people are these days? When was the last time you truly told someone how you felt, especially when that opinion differed from what you know they WANT to hear?
I get it. No one wants to be the bad guy. No one wants to overstep their boundaries and lose a friend, or worse, their job. In wonder though, isn't a teachers job to let a child know whether or not they are prepared for the future? Is it not all of our jobs to let the corrupt CEO know that their behavior is in fact criminal?
I blame much of this on the baby boomer generation. Or, more specifically, on their reaction to the world they grew up in and the eventual lessons passed along to their children. Again, I get it. Every generation dreams of being better than the one before them. Unfortunately, like a rebellious teenager, the response is a often complete overhaul rather than some simple changes.
You see, while none of the boomers directly felt the effects of the Great Depression, we can be sure that many of their bedtime stories involved squirrels fighting over and stocking away nuts for a cold, hard winter. Almost explains why most of them passed to their children the belief that no amount of money is enough. Couple this with the fact that the formative years of boomers and their children followed the greatest growth in the world's economy and it is not difficult to understand why the massive gulf in wealth distribution began.
What bothers me the most about all of this is the lack of culpability. Back to that concept of an always broken society...
Let me explain. If you were to ask any boomer what is wrong with the kids of today, what do you expect the answer to be? Almost always it is that today's kids are the most entitled generation ever. While tough to argue against, I am left to wonder why these same people neglect to see the root of this problem.
You see, while boomers love to rail against the 26 year old who lives in his parent's basement, what they conveniently overlook is the fact that they caused this epidemic.
Instead of graduating from college with a bachelor's degree and no debt, hounded by three companies to come work for them; kids today graduate with $30k in debt for a piece of paper worth next to nothing and no viable job offers. Why? Because not only have they been convinced they have to obtain a college degree to get ahead, so have all of their friends.
What makes this problem worse is that baby boomers are not only not retiring when they can afford to (thus opening up jobs), but they also believe that they deserve massive salaries (in many cases 40+ times more than the average employee for upper management) which take away from the companies ability to hire new blood. Weird that baby boomers love to rail how the generations below them are unwilling to work when the reality is that anyone not in upper management is doing the work of at least two people. Hey, got to maximize the company's profit, right?
So, in addition to debt and limited chance at employment (or at least gainful employment in their field) kids today have to take whatever job they can find (heck, those loans aren't going to repay themselves). Save for that house? Ummm... Nope, can't afford it. Why not? Simple. Turns out, buying houses and turning them into rental properties is very lucrative. Great for those that can afford the overvalued homes, not so much for that 26 year old with two degrees working at McDonalds so he can pay the $800/mo in loans.
We may be broken, but I believe that we can be fixed. It'll take tough conversations; society has to start speaking up and holding people accountable. Above all, we must all embrace that failure is not the end of the world; not unless we individually make it out to be.
Failure teaches us our greatest lessons. Not only can it show us our weaknesses, it gives us an opportunity to learn how strong we are. Are you willing to correct your own mistakes? Are you afraid to let people criticize you? Do you expect that life is supposed to be easy and fun? Are you willing to accept responsibility for yourself and your actions?
Not only is your response to failure the greatest indicator of who you are, it is also the greatest indicator of who your children will become.
No comments:
Post a Comment