The Purpose of Generation Y

Hopefully I don’t offend too many when I speak on behalf of an entire generation, and surely I will, but  with rumors widely spreading that we are the new lost generation I felt the need to clear things up. It is true, there are no uncharted lands across uncharted waters (at least not on this planet) which need exploration. Google already photographed every inch of the earth and posted it on the internet to view for free. Unlike the often romanticized and enviable purpose of our grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ “Greatest Generation,” there is no Hitler leading an army to overtake a continent and commit genocide (at least not on any important continents) which will rally us from depression. Without such obvious hurdles of focus many of this generation do seem lost.

So Gen Yers have asked themselves questions in trying to evaluate just the correct life path including: Will this make me rich? Will I make enough to pay my bills? How many years of my life will I have to work this hard? Is this company ethical? Should I start my own business that is? What will my parents or my peers think of me? Can I make a career blogging? Will this satisfy the creative person in me? What can I do to help people? What is my purpose? But despite good intentions a clear path hasn’t emerged for most.

The generations before us are now defined by their existent societal problems and the ways they solved them. Several of these solutions and their corresponding heroes have been etched in statues and become our history and childhood education. But the truth is that in the age of explorers, most Europeans lived what would be considered ordinary lives in feudal Europe. But, they lived their lives anyway. While World War II devastated many European countries, the United States border was relatively unharmed, the total number of people who fought in WWII was roughly 70 million when the world’s population was 2.3 billion. Though it was many, it was still a vast minority of the people that defined the generation as we know it. The ones who are remembered, the ones that really defined the generation, are the ones that zigged while everybody else zagged.

First, I must warn: the lifestyle of an explorer is unique, but uncomfortable, as the lifestyle of a soldier is unique, but uncomfortable. It will be no different for the great ziggers of Gen Y. They will have to remain passionate with the conviction for progress in the face of adversaries and apathy. They will encounter an onslaught of criticism and doubt no different than those of previous generations. Our generational leaders will have to abandon the comfortable lifestyle bestowed to us in pursuit of a more important cause. But what cause are we to lead? Well, like preceding generations we must battle our current societal problems and keep humanity alive for our posterity.

I know this is going to sound like I think the sky is falling, because today might be relatively pleasant for you, but it really is falling. It is not going to fall today or tomorrow, but roughly in the next 50 years our world is going to run into some gravely serious problems. For many in Gen Y that will span the remainder of their lifetime.

When clean drinking water becomes very scarce because we’ve exhausted or polluted most of our natural springs through fracking, pharmaceutical contamination, or any of our other terrible environmental practices, our ability to sustain our existence will be in jeopardy. When oil becomes scarce all of those industries which in some way rely on oil – which either directly or indirectly is by my guestimation at least 97% of the global GDP – will grind to a halt and cease to function in the way they do now. We do not have the infrastructure to support our massive population without oil. We don’t even have reasonably efficient ways to create new oil-free infrastructure without oil. 

Throughout human history, struggles for resources following overexpansion have caused countless wars and led to the defeat of nearly every extinct civilization from the Babylonians to the Aztecs to the Nazis. The struggle over the last of the earth’s clean water and oil resources will be unimaginably gruesome. Most people will lose.

These problems desperately in need of solving are apparent to many, yet society perpetuates with little relevant discussion. We face new, significant obstacles that we’ve never encountered in quite the same way. If they were old or simple challenges, they would have been met already. We don’t have Hitler’s army to repel, or vast oceans to navigate. Now we have to battle apathy and distraction from our real problems. We have to battle the many forms of personal and collective addiction to short-term gratification. We have to battle corporate dominance over modern cultural behavior. We have to find the will to show compassion and mercy toward all those we share the planet with.

Like generations before us our task is to solve our current societal problems. Those with imagination see them already and are actively working toward solutions. We receive daily posts on our Facebook feeds about some of this incredible work, and for a moment the names involved become legendary figures, like what’s his name with that video about the African army leader a couple years back. Yet this doesn’t inspire action and their names are quickly forgotten, lost after the next byte is consumed. 

Our capitalistic, consumption-based culture is unsustainable. So the great calling of Generation Y is to create one that is. Sustainability is a daunting multi-faceted task staring each of us in the face. 

However, we know that solutions will be multi-faceted as well, with significant contributions coming from science and technology, governance and politics, media and mass communications, education and economics, but especially cultural and even spiritual changes at the individual level. We have powerful tools at our disposal which will help us, but it will require real hard work and it will be uncomfortable at times. We have roughly 50 years to right the ship and build a sustainable planet in order to avoid serious catastrophe. That is our calling.

So who is up for the challenge? Who will lead the efforts and who will be next to join them? Who will abandon comfort and truly zig while everyone else zags? Who will figure out how to safely gain independence from endless consumption and short-term gratification? Who will make corporate responsibility something more than a running joke or marketing device? Who will create large scale sustainable societies that will allow our species to exist on this planet through the next generation? Who will inspire action over apathy? It remains to be seen. But for those who are still looking for a purpose, I have laid it out very plainly. We can be remembered as the generation that blindly drove humanity over the cliff or the one that steered it toward safety. Either way, the purpose of Gen Y is quite clear.