This blog was inspired by a lively debate in my Governance class, taught by a spirited professor that encourages the sharing of ideas both from herself and from her students.
Like many Americans my age, those balancing between the end of the Baby Boom Generation and the beginning of Generation X, I am both vocal about social issues and insecure about my financial future... especially in light of the current political climate. While I could spur much debate launching into a discussion over political candidates, issues, and ideas- or perhaps the lack of ideas, I am instead going to engage in a conversation about things that we can begin to change.
First, let's consider who the Baby Boomers & Generation X'ers are:
The BABY BOOMERS, those born between 1946-1964 were born in an era of financial prosperity, they are vocal on social issues and liberal in outlook.
Those considered to be GENERATION X were born between 1965-1979 this generation tends to be cynical about authority and open to new forms of spirituality, but insecure about their financial future. (
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For my BOOMER/ GENERATION (I made up this phrase because I believe those of us that fall within the last few years of one generation and the first few of the next share characteristics of both generations) have reached a point in our lives when we realize what we thought we wanted and what we worked for most of our lives actually lacks value or true meaning. And yet because we have that fear of financial instability, we are afraid to make the changes that may very well bring us the meaning and purpose that we seek. While I have conducted no scientific studies to support my assumptions (my 6th grade Science students would give me a hard time for this), I do hypothesize, based on my limited experience, that my generational peers may very well consider ourselves the "Questioning Our Choices Generation." Although I suspect that my mom might tell me that all 50 year-olds go through this, she may even tell me it is my mid-life crisis, however, since I doubt I will live to 100, this is not my mid-life!
If you have read some of my previous blogs, especially my last one "Looking Past Our Limits," you may realize that making changes to pursue a life of meaning and purpose is something I have been doing over the past few years. Change is never easy though, I won't even begin to say that it is. In fact fear of change can be crippling. Yet, for many of the "Questioning Our Choices Generation" we eventually get to the point that we realize that in order to us to survive, to prevent our very soul from being sucked out of us, we simply have to do something different.
Umair Hague, author of "
The New Capitalist Manifesto: Building a Disruptively Better Business" and contributing writer to the Harvard Business Review posed the following question in his most recent blog titled "Making the Choice Between Money and Meaning," he asked his readers
"Is there a trade-off between meaning and money?" His article seems to challenge the "Questioning Our Choices Generation" by saying:
"You and I face the difficult choice of trading meaning for money; we
weigh the searing moments of real human accomplishment against the
soul-sucking "work" of earning the next car payment by polishing up
another meaningless PowerPoint deck packed with tactics to win games
whose net result is the creation of little of real value for much of
anyone who's not a sociopath. This is the deepest kind of theft; not
merely prosperity having been looted from societies, but significance
having been stolen from human lives."
Hague does not simply pose this thought without also offering up his solution to the problem:
"So what can you do about it? There's only one good answer, and it's
simple. Stop trading meaning for money. It's the worst trade you'll ever
make. Step out of your shadow, the carefully constructed almost-self you've been instructed, encouraged, cajoled to settle for. Let me put that even more simply. You're going to need to apply not just
the following professional skills — entrepreneurship; "networking,"
pluck and drive, strategic thinking, leadership, branding and marketing —
but also the following human capacities: a stubborn refusal to obey the dictates of the status quo,
an unwavering empathy, a healthy disrespect for the naysayers, the
humility of the servant and the pride of the master artisan, a
persevering sense of grace, a heaping spoonful of that most dangerously
unpredictable of substances, love,
and, finally, the unflinching belief in a better tomorrow that those
have always had who dust their saddles off, dig their spurs in, and
forge ahead into the great unknown."
During the next few weeks we will be bombarded with advertisements, calls, and conversations in which people will try to persuade us to make a choice for the man that will lead our country for the next four years. I am not here to try to sway your decision either way, I am merely encouraging you to learn about the person you will chose to run our country. I am encouraging to exercise your right to vote. I am encouraging you to consider what you value- Money or Meaning? And to select the candidate and party that supports what you value.
It is never too late to do something that matters... It's never too late to chose a better life. It is never too late to pursue a life of meaning, purpose, and passion. But it is up to you to act.
