I should really be correcting tests that I have put off correcting all break. Instead, I thought I would share some thoughts... i.e. procrastinate some more.
This is my first Gregorian New Year away from family and friends since last year I was (un)fortunately with my family. But really, am I away from friends? I've been lucky to have formed a few good friendships with HCNs (with whom I celebrated) and non-HCNs alike.
Things have been tough, and as usual, I have been delinquent in updating. Though I've been trying to make up for it by posting lots (lots is a relative term considering the connection and my lack of picture-taking prowress) of pictures. I definitely had some emotionally tough times this past term. As my service starts to wind down, I have to ask myself... what have I really done? Who have I really inspired? I guess I suffer from the degradation of society's ability to be patient because I want to know if what am I doing is having a positive effect and I want to know now.
There's a sort of hazy lost generation between 1975 - 1984 that I would like to call the "TGIF generation". Yes, there are lots of other names out there for that time period, but let me justify. We were the generation that grew up watching TGIF and absorbed those familiy values and catchy theme songs and 90210 was less shock and more family-oriented. It was a time before cell phones in every middle school students backpack. It was a time when the Internet was still text only, graphic bullet points were all the rage, and page-loading took minutes... not fractions of seconds. It was a time when we needed time to find the answers, and part of the process of growing up was the search.
All of us kids falling under this lost generation watched technology grow by leaps and bounds, but the first technology that really educated us was the television. I would like to propose that our generation was well-educated on family values, service, patience, and trying to cooperate and get along with others despite race, religion, ethnicity, etc. (even though many of us wanted to hide it because it was "uncool"). It is why those of us who were just shy of voting against you-know-who the first time around were outraged (especially when that whole war talk started, despite the 9/11 business) and those of us who weren't were outraged even more so. It's why when I look at my group of friends I don't see color, I just see friends. It is why we worked so hard to get where we are today, and look around disgusted at the world today.
Why did we work so hard in the first place? What was the point?
In the course of four years, TV went from TGIF to teenage dramedy. Now, with shock TV (and I don't mean Jerry Springer) as the basic diet of children growing up plus the Internet full of YouTube and other powerful share-all sites. Reality has blurred. Values are no longer valued. Friends are no longer your friends. Growing up is hard. Do we really need a world where the only safe people are maybe your parents, and even then, what teenager doesn't have that occasional power/growing-up struggle with their parents? A place where everything is Now?
Now is a dangerous place. It is no longer a future waiting to happen, and a past waiting for consequences. Now is Now. It's too late now for society, we can only cope with the immediateness of Now. People want everything now: money, information, service, friendship. At what cost? Credit only runs so deep. Truth is a matter of perception and corroboration of facts. Automation can only go so far. Trust can only ripen with time.
It's why things that take patience and time have become even less popular: science, research and development (from social skills to relationships to newer and better things and ideas). It's why we have pro athletes who skip college for the big leagues. It's why we have fast-track programs to high-paying careers and even fewer teachers in the public school systems.
Now is the time of forgive, but not really forget. But would there be something to forgive, if we had just used a little patience?
Don't you remember a time when you were young and you really wanted that cookie/toy/cartoon? And your parents told you, "Not now, honey." The victory was so much sweeter when you finally got what you wanted. Anticipation and patience, they made it all worthwhile. That doesn't happen Now.
Teaching and Peace Corps are the anti-thesis of Now. The developing world is catching up with the concept, but it hasn't infiltrated to the very core of it yet. After all, much of it is still unpowered, and hence, unconnected. However, as someone who started to feel the effects of the Now generation tainting my very existence when I left college and entered the working world, I can say that I suffer from wanting to know now if my work was worth it. Teachers who work so hard and see that their students don't have the ability to read and critically think like students of generations past. Why work hard? What is the point?
Dear friends, family and most importantly strangers who have suffered this long through my hypothesized TGIF and Now generations rambling. Thank you. I want to say that it is worth it, but I can't tell you the why right now. Even if you and I won't see the effects right away of the little things that we do because we really should (and not because someone else tells us we should). Don't let Now control you. Yes, I realize this takes critical thinking skills on your part to make the tough decisions and sacrifices.
If you all let the world fall to pieces while I'm outside of the Now, I'm going to be very disappointed. After all, what is the future of programs like the Peace Corps and the world in general if there are not enough people who are capable of waiting?
The president elect has a lot of work on his hands to transform a society of Now to a society of (k)Now. I hope the world realizes that if he moves at the speed of Now, the world might go to pieces even despite the best of intentions. Change can't happen fast. The world is a place that needs to be gently molded, otherwise it springs back into its original form, or worse yet, it collapses. Here's hoping for a speedy but not hasty transformation from Now to (k)Now - a generation that treats the information it has Now responsibly.
12 years ago