What if our elders used reason?

About that last post on youth culture -

Current politics, education and even business don't identify with youth culture as much as it should. I think we have to try too hard to live a good life. I think young people everywhere, from the US to Afghanistan, are all struggling to believe what our elders say, be it religious or political or whatever. At least I am.

Congruently, how many media reports mention something like, ‘without any significant changes to current policies… insert horrible future projection here [like “by 2025, 67% of the world’s population will face water shortages unless significant changes are introduced in water resource management. And by 2030, global food production will have to increase by 54% to meet increasing population demands.”]’1

To seriously tackle these issues, it will require nothing short of a change of lifestyle. A shift of values. Coming moreso from people who still have a choice of what their values will be - people who have their whole life ahead of them.

Young people do. Young people still care. We haven’t yet decided what we believe, so we ask questions. We haven't firmly decided on what we value and we fight the system because we're not convinced it's values are what we want.

If our elders used reason (like the facts above) to inspire young people to help solve some of the world’s pressing issues, I think we’d see those significant changes we’re waiting for. And, in doing so, I think we’d all be a bit happier.

Being practical about how significant changes could change our lifestyle, the quickest solution to this will probably come from the top. Which, in turn, only adds to the profundity of the upcoming election.

In the June 7th issue, The Economist (2) nicely summarizes the character of both candidates: “[They] have their flaws and their admirable points; the doughty but sometimes cranky old warrior makes a fine contrast with the inspirational but sometimes vaporous young visionary.”

This election is old versus new - tradition versus innovation. From what I've read about the two candidates, I bet we’ll see that significant change a lot faster with the young guy in there. America, though, will decide whether we get there in the next four years or have to wait longer until we have a leader that recognizes the immeasurable potential of human ingenuity.

In time though I think we, as humanity, will understand how fundamentally important it is to reach our youth and how, if we don’t make significant changes to our lifestyle, it could prove to be fatal. Outside of politics, if Obama doesn’t get elected, with the Internet growing at its belligerent pace… would it really matter? In other words, will the Internet both, approach youth culture and address world crises, before politics does? I can't wait to find out.

1 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data
2 Economist, 7 June 2008, America at its Best, p13