pantsfarm

Late as usual to game, I’m only now getting around to typing up some thoughts I had in response to columns published earlier in the week by the NYTimes. The first I read was David Brooks’ The Odyssey Years” discovered because I am a daily peruser of the top 10 items on the most emailed stories list. (Another topic that has been talked quite a lot about, I think.)

Having read that, I went looking for the likely response from some other blogs I read occasionally, and as expected found one or two. From there, I saw linked Thomas Friedman’s Generation Q column.

Given how late seem to be on these, (3, 4 days? My, how quick things have become), I don’t think I’ve got a lot to add to the posts and comments from above and from here, which I saw in the same post I saw Generation Q.

I would like to add that I am quite tired of the myriad labels for this generation I feel like I keep hearing. It seems tired and old to characterize this cohort as generation whatever, but still people do it. Generation this, generation that, blah blah blah.

I guess I am a one such recent graduate who is in the midst of my would-be odyssey years. I guess the column does fit with my own experience. I too do not really know what to make of these pronouncements though.

I’m less sure of what to make of the Generation Q article. Mr. Friedman calls for some sort of more… active demonstration of the pursuit of what’s important.

I don’t really get it. What kind of action does he expect students to take, and more importantly, what kind of response is he hoping to get? I’ve been quite apathetic myself, I can’t deny that. One excuse I can think of is that I’ve sort of given up. Having never really been witness to any sort of profound demonstration and action as a result, I just don’t bother. Instead I’m in China and expecting them to steal the thunder on the world stage sometime soon, and rather than be stuck in an ungraceful transition to number 2 in the US, I’ll be here.