SUBURBAN LEGENDS: Generation Why

We interrupt your regularly scheduled column to bring you something just a little bit different:

You are Generation Y. You are the sons and daughters of the baby boomers — the grandchildren of America’s greatest generation. You are, as the song says, the “youth of the nation.” You listened to MC Hammer and watched “Saved by the Bell.” You were born in the 1980s and grew up in the 1990s. You became the generation that will help define a new millennium. But you have not yet been truly challenged. There have been struggles — perhaps exemplified by Columbine — the angst, the uncertainty, the broken homes and the bullet-riddled schools. Still, you are a generation whose credo is not “Ask not what your country can do for you,” but “Well, whatever, nevermind.” Now, you are being called, maybe not to war, but at least to action. Crisis and tragedy once again threaten to challenge your ideals, not to mention your status quo. The question is: are you up to the challenge?

Our generation is in a unique position, having lived in relative peace despite being raised by parents who grew up in the shadow of the war in Vietnam and grandparents who faced down the evils of World War II only to emerge to lead the country into newfound prosperity. But what are we? Our wars have been fought with videogame controllers, and our struggles have been watched from the safety of our couches, an ongoing soap opera on CNN. Would we be prepared to exchange our televisions for weapons and our Gap clothing for military fatigues? Some of us already have, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

We have overcome many of the barriers of generations past. We are more accepting of others from different races, religions and ethnicities. We are more sensitive, less apt to condemn people because of the color of their skin. However, we are not perfect. Here at BU, the letters keep pouring in about the Student Union, the Patriots and the other everyday annoyances that bother us enough to write and complain. Jerry Seinfeld made observational humor all the rage, but sometimes, there’s only so much to analyze and critique. There are times when even a generation that talks more about choking on pretzels and movies starring teen pop icons than war, the economy and the future needs to consider more than just the small things.

In talking to my father and grandfather — both men who have dedicated themselves to serving the community and involving themselves politically — I got the distinct impression that, for them, there is a lot more to write about than the typical college newspaper fare. I contend that humor and wit and satire are a necessity and a lot more fun than preaching about issues that many probably don’t have much interest in. But when is it too much? When does everything become relegated to a big joke that we’re all somehow in on? Irony isn’t dead — it just got addicted to Prozac, wrote a tell-all book and decided to lie low somewhere outside of L.A. for a few years while working on a screenplay. And Gen Y wouldn’t have it any other way — or would we?

The people who came before us: the heroes, legends, myths. Who is our great hero? Who is our Martin Luther King, Jr., or Abraham Lincoln? What is our point and what is our purpose? These questions will slowly answer themselves. In the meantime, we should try to remember there is more to this world than MTV and Abercrombie. There are more voices to be heard than Carson Daly and Oprah. Sometimes these voices are those of authors, intellectuals, philosophers. And sometimes, they are the voices of those who we often ignore or take for granted — teachers, parents, friends.

The thrill of a great basketball game, the comedy or drama of a great movie, the energy of a great song. These are the things that often make life fun and interesting. To what extent, however, do they become all-encompassing and dominant in shaping our views and ideas? Do we enjoy violence because of a Nintendo game? Do we descend into alcoholism and drug use because someone in a movie made it look funny? Do we spend all our time being sarcastic and sipping coffee because it’s how the characters on Friends act? No, I don’t think we do. But the question is there. The line is blurring. World War II was real. Vietnam was real. Today’s events have the air of unreality that seems to color the lives of our hyper-connected generation. Every news item reduced to a headline on the omnipresent scrolling information bar of our lives.

You sit down at the computer to IM your friend from down the hall and fill out the latest online personality quiz. You worry about your tests and papers and the party on Friday night. But somewhere in the back of your mind, you remember. You remember the struggles of generations gone by and you know that we too will have our great struggles. But you know (or hope) we’ll face it with good humor and a strong will and history on our side. You are Generation Y, and you are the future, so start shaping it. Don’t get bogged down in the mess of our Starbucks-Warren Towers-Pepsi-Silberized mass-marketed college universe.

OK, now that that’s over with, what’s the deal with that new Britney Spears movie … ?