The ME Generation: Advances in Entitlement

July 28, 2011 at 11:54 pm (Culture, Media, Philosophy, Social Change) (, , , , , , , , , )

They come in countless forms:

  • The fifteen year-old neighbor whose parents bought her a car for raising her GPA to 3.0
  • The principal’s son, who thinks he knows everything
  • The group of 20 somethings out on the town that walk in front of your moving car in a gaggle and then gesture rudely at you when you slam on your breaks
       A couple months ago, I received heartbreaking news: I am part of the ME generation. I am an old-timer ME, but technically I made the cut (which is 1980 and I was born in ’81) and I must call myself a member of this most fascinating and unsettling generation. The “ME” has a double-meaning, a dual-edged sword if you will. First and foremost, we are “millennial,” that is, we came to age around the time of the turn of the century.  The second definition is easily seen: we are all about “me.” In fact, I’m pretty sure The Beatles were prophesying about us when they penned the song, “I, Me, Mine.”
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The Idiozation of America

July 27, 2011 at 1:02 am (Culture, Media) (, , , , )

Yesterday I finally fulfilled my only remaining requirement for my education specialist credential: I was re-certified in CPR and First Aid. While taking the class and watching the new videos put out by the American Heart Association, I couldn’t help but notice that the informative gentleman in the polo shirt on the television kept referring to two awkward-sounding terms: inside bleeding and outside bleeding.

Now I never went to medical school, but I’m fairly sure that that’s known as internal bleeding and external bleeding.

Doubtless one doesn’t need a college degree to attribute the correct meaning of these terms. But I learned that the American Heart Association has recently begun using the terms “inside bleeding” and “outside bleeding” for their CPR and First Aid classes, finally replacing those pesky academic terms “internal bleeding” and “external bleeding.” At long last! Who wants to memorize age-level appropriate words when they could just use words that a four year-old would use to describe such things (I apologize to many four year-olds in saying this)? Read the rest of this entry »

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Keeping Up With This Generation.

July 22, 2011 at 12:14 am (Contentment, Philosophy) (, , , , , , , , )

“Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind” – King Solomon

I oft get caught up in the notion that people today are unlike any other generation regarding the insane demand to keep up with their crazy schedules. In one sense it’s true, because from cell phones, the internet, the ease of travel, the seemingly constant interconnectedness of everything at all times, our hectic schedules can meet a level of frenzy like never before. Sometimes there appears to be no “off” button.

Yet this passage gives me a pretty clear picture of the hustle some people had even way back then (somewhere between 970-928 BC). Read the rest of this entry »

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