The Generation stuck in ‘Fuct.’
Across the globe, young activists and agitators are driving a movement for massive change. A war is underway against the systems that have historically controlled their futures, in an epic fight of “fuck you, what’s the point, you can’t have it both ways!” Putting aside race, culture, sex, religion, orientation, social class, economic position and more, the youth of the 21st have come together with one common enemy in sight …Their forefathers.
Inspired by the likes of Greta Thunberg, Milala Yosafzai, Emma Gonzales, Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, Asean Johnson, Katie Eder and more…..these young people are saying ‘fuck you’ to a system they feel has screwed over the world, and her people, for long enough.
But in between this generation of upstarts and the outdated stalwarts who don’t give a fuck about anything else but their pockets, there exists another generation. One debilitated by the narratives that have formed their fundamental understanding of their place in the world.
A generation that was raised, not with BIG dreams, but realistic ones.
Some of us were born to parents who struggled their whole lives to put food on the table, others were luckier in this respect but suffered the consequence, with lack of emotional availability and connection. And though our dreams may have been starry-eyed and extraordinary in our early years… as we grew, all our parent’s lessons were based more-and-more on one universal message, the value of regularity.
Yes, it’s true, many of us were taught that we could be anything we wanted to and do anything we wanted to…as long as it was a career, or a path, with a heritage of success. We came to understand that creating stability and security in our lives was key; and that the sure-fire way to achieving this was through proven pathways and ‘tried and tested’ methods. Ones that made our elders nod their heads in acknowledgement of concerted sacrifice and commitment. Joy was never part of the conversation. Responsibility was never part of the conversation. And ‘Agitator’ was a term reserved for punks and trouble-makers with too much time on their hands. The last thing we were taught to consider was to seek to drive change in the world and its ‘systems.’ And like the good, wooden spoon, cane fearing kids we were drilled to be, we listened and obeyed.
But then the world changed. Quickly. And all of a sudden so did we. A deep consciousness awoke in our generation and most of us realised, we weren’t happy, we were dying. Both figuratively and literally. Every waking moment that we were spending buying into the system, working as a cog to drive a power-hungry machine, had us digging our own graves at a rapidly premature pace. And as we reflected on our death, we began to see death all around us. The realisation that all the security and stability we had created for ourselves was simply a man-made construct, and entirely futile if the world around us was falling into ruin because of it. We thought about our younger siblings, our children yet to come, and realised that once upon a time we did have big dreams. Dreams of imprinting ourselves on something bigger than ourselves. Dreams of making an impact. Dreams of change.
The problem, of course, is that now we are completely ill-equipped to action these dreams. Most of us, in our younger years, selected proven pathways of success. Education that taught us to do a thing, and do it well. Lessons that taught us to get in the box and then climb to the top on the heads of others. But what we really needed was education that taught us to look at the box and ask why everyone inside was suffocating. Lessons that taught us the value of the people inside the box with us and where to strategically open windows before were all dead. Because now that we’re stuck in that overcrowded box and rapidly running out of resources, all we can do is break the glass and leap out. And there’s a 50/50 chance of imminent death. Sure, if we stay we’ll die eventually anyway, but that seems less threatening somehow. Existing in the deathtrap seems a better option because it allows us the one thing we all so desperately crave…time. Because even if it’s a shit time, it’s still time.
We were birthed to a generation who were raised to embrace regularity and thrive under the hedonism of consumption. To seek it out as validation for achievement. To fight hard to keep the norms rather than change them. We have given birth to a generation who we are desperately trying to un-school in these ways. To show them that there is only destruction and demise at the end of these heritage pathways. So that in their ‘coming of age’ they will make better choices. Give more. Take less. Preserve instead of destroy.
But what of us? The generation stuck in the middle. Inside the box. The ones who have not yet ‘come of age’ in our understanding of ourselves, so that we may know how to push through the constructs that long pre-date our existence. The ones who this young generation of activists and agitators are looking to as leaders of the new world and calling ‘complacent’ and ‘lazy’… not knowing how we suffocate under tradition and responsibility. Paralyzed by the constant reminder that time is against us to figure it out. Yes… the responsibility of saving the world seems to have wrongly and very visibly, fallen to the youth of the 21st. They are making their voices heard. They have big dreams. Unfortunately, all they can currently do is shout about it.
Those of us who are expected to translate those voices into some meaningful action, here in between the wrong pathway choices of our past and the high stakes of changing our future direction, feel completely stuck in the ‘FUCT’ zone at times. Not knowing how to transition to positions of power and real impact in a meaningful timeframe, but deeply aware that we need to…and quickly.
