My thoughts exactly
Overcoming the mistakes of past grads
Last week, the Bugle-Observer staff was kept on the run covering proms and graduations at five area high schools in Nackawic, Canterbury, Woodstock, Hartland and Carleton North.
On Thursday of this week, successful graduates at NBCC Woodstock picked up the diplomas which they hope to turn into improved job opportunities.
The common thread running through these ceremonies – and all graduation exercises for that matter – is hope.
While many look upon a graduation as the end of an era or the completion of a goal, most wisely recognize it as another – albeit important – step in life's long journey. Most of the young men and women – interspersed with a few older grads at NBCC Woodstock– who proudly walk on stage to collect their diplomas carry with them a positive outlook of what lies ahead.
While those in the audience share the next generation's hope, they also understand the hurdles which await these optimistic – and perhaps a touch naive – young people.
Like their parents and grandparents, today's graduates move on to the next phase of their life with visions of a better world for themselves and those around them. They expect to make a difference.
But unlike their parents and grandparents, today's grads will not be left a better world by the generations which preceded them. Recent studies indicate that, for the first time in recorded history, today's sons and daughters will on average make less than their mothers and fathers. All previous generations laid the groundwork for a better world and greater opportunities for those who followed.
Ironically, the Baby Boomers – who transformed the ‘60s and early ‘70s with their high ideals and promises of peace, love and social and environmental awareness – lost their way. Seduced by money and greed, they tossed their flower-power world of war protests, communes and social activism aside as the weight of the real world dropped upon their collective shoulders.
The long days of protests gave way to long days at the office. The quest for a spiritual awakening gave way to a quest for a better paycheque. The desire to save the planet gave way to the desire to exploit the planet's wealth. The cries for peace and understanding were drowned out by the wails of grief and despair.
Baby Boomers, despite their failures, still managed to pass the baton to Generation X with greater opportunities still available. Unlike their Boomer parents, who spent their college years consumed by social activism, Gen Xers spent their colleges years activated by consumerism and social climbing.
As the Gen X crowd basked in the glow of booming economies, advancing technologies, dot-com wealth and market speculation, they forgot to check if their good fortune could be sustained for those who followed.
While third-world nations continued to slide into despair, the western world, with Canada among the leaders, epitomized economic growth. Canadians enjoyed high employment, slow inflation and low-interest rates.
As a new millennium dawned, Canadians enjoyed the fruits of resource wealth and the increasing demand for the oil and gas which lay beneath Alberta's and Saskatchewan's prairie sands and Newfoundland's rolling oceans.
Today we have a fragile economy based heavily on the production or use of fossil fuels – an economy driven by our addiction to oil. Economists love to cite GDP and stock market growth as indications of financial bliss, but, in truth, those economic statistics are but pretty wrapping over an empty box.
Today's grads face uncertain times which require a new way of thinking. They must seek out and find alternative energy sources to replace the skyrocketing costs – both economically and socially – of non-renewable energy. They must adapt to a quickly changing planet as more and more experts agree the impact a climate change can no longer be reversed.
The young men and women who graduated from Canadian high schools, colleges and universities this spring will be called upon to overcome the neglect of their parents and grandparents. They will inherit a world where the gap between the rich and poor – both as individuals and as nations – is the widest in history.
They will inherit a world where hatred and mistrust between class, race and religion grows more intense. They will inherit a world where technology gives them the tools to destroy and repair civilization.
Hopefully, they make better choices than their parents and grandparents.
More Opinion
Search Articles
More CE Network Sites & Partners:
