It would appear that young people realize our political, economic, spiritual and social trajectory is not sustainable and they are engaged enough in a vision of the future that they want to do something about it. To me, that's cool and I support them in their efforts.
A few pieces of information that seem relevant to consider.
First, there are about 312 million people in the United States right now. About 92 million of them are called Millennials. That's young people born between 1982 - 2003. They consist of nearly 1 out of every 3 persons in this country. Although half of them are still not yet adults, many of them are and they are beginning to throw their demographic weight around. Occupy Wall Street is just an early expression of the ways in which Millennials are bringing their power to bear on American society. I cannot wait to see what else they will do to shape their future.
Second, the Millennials of the U.S. mirror the Millennials of the world. They are steeped in technology, not because it's new and exciting like it is for some of the older generations, but because they have literally grown up with it and view it as a natural part of their existence. Furthermore, global numbers of this generation are as astounding as the U.S. numbers. As the planet's population reaches 7 billion, nearly 60% of the world's population are under the age of 40. Thus they are "history’s largest and most interconnected population of young people . . . transforming global politics and culture" ever known to the human race. In short, it's an exciting time to be alive!
Third, the vision Millennials have for their world may not look much like the vision older folks have about the world. The perspective is different because Millennials have many more decades in front of them, while the rest of us can count the decades before us on one hand. Also, they are a cooperative, collaborative bunch who LIKE to work together to get things done. This attitude shapes their world view in important ways. Rugged individualism is not part of Millennial make-up. A go-it-alone personal responsibility narrative does resonate for the young people today. They thrive on working problems together. They like to help each other out. They are a gregarious bunch. Thus, when they say they want to occupy public spaces in order to get the attention of authorities, it's because they see collective action as the key to their success. It's a signature trait of this generation's personality.
Finally, because of the Millennials' heft in population, it would do some of us old cats a bit of good to pay attention to what they are saying rather than just disregard them out of hand. To do the latter will be a recipe for irrelevance. Older generations can do one of three things: watch them passively without offering mature guidance, dismiss them as lazy and on the fringe, or embrace them and assist them through mentoring that comes from experience. Frankly, I choose the latter so as to have some semblance of influence on this, our 21st century's most powerful generation.
All of that frames my trip to downtown Sacramento today. You see, on Thursday last week, this region saw the birth of an Occupy Sacramento movement in the spirit of Occupy Wall Street. Figuring I needed to see what they were up to, and realizing that the media was not adequately covering this movement, I decided to see for myself. And so, this afternoon, I headed down to Cesar Chavez Plaza for a little look around. These are the things I saw:
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| A modest turnout of youthful and used to be youthful individuals |
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| Some creative signage |
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| Some provocative signage |
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| Some interesting concepts |
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| Some athletic juxtaposition |
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| Some clearly stated needs |
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| Some throw back to the 1960s |
For more information about Occupy Sacramento, they have a website, a livestream and a Facebook page. Here's more information about the Occupy Together movement, including the planned Global Occupy on October 15.
Here's to catching the youth's vision!
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