Wanted: Adults

I have officially decided that my Theme Movie for the 2008 Election, and for American Culture writ large shall be, until further notice, Peter Pan. To begin our new theme, here are excerpts from "I Won't Grow Up," Peter Pan's personal theme song.

If growing up means
It would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree,
I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up
Not me!
I won't grow up,
I don't want to wear a tie.
And a serious expression
In the middle of July.
And if it means I must prepare
To shoulder burdens with a worried air,
I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up
Never gonna be a man,
I won't!
Like to see somebody try
And make me.
Anyone who wants to try
And make me turn into a man,
Catch me if you can.
I won't grow up.
Not a penny will I pinch.
I will never grow a mustache,
Or a fraction of an inch.
'Cause growing up is awfuller
Than all the awful things that ever were.
I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up,
I won't grow up!
We won't grow up!
We will never grow a day
And if someone tries to make it
We will simply run away
And Never Land will always be
The home of beauty and joy
And neverty
I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up
Not me!
----

It dawned on me this morning, halfway through my second cup of coffee, the fundamental problem characterizing most of our cultural, social, and political malaise: we are quickly running out of adults. I do not know the source of these characteristics, but here is what Wikipedia lists as "qualities that symbolize adultness in most cultures."

* Self-control - restraint, emotional control.
* Stability - stable personality, strength.
* Independence - ability to self-regulate.
* Seriousness - ability to deal with life in a serious manner.
* Responsibility - accountability, commitment and reliability.
* Method/Tact - ability to think ahead and plan for the future, patience.
* Endurance - ability and willingness to cope with difficulties that present themselves.
* Experience - breadth of mind, understanding.
* Objectivity - perspective and realism.

Come back from science fiction land for a minute now, and hang your head with me in lamentation of the fact that it is difficult to find many people who have reached the "age of majority," who display even half of these characteristics on a consistent and daily basis. If we examine the world of politics, for example, we find that our political officeholders (I would not deign to denigrate the word "leader" by using it to describe our current set of officeholders) is particularly severely lacking in Self-control, Independence, Responsibility, Method/Tact, Experience, Objectivity. And the others are just a wash, at best.

Our churches have largely become either empty or glorified social clubs. We have prostitute preachers who use their silver tongue to keep the big offering checks rolling in. We have a laity suffering from the most grotesque form of intellectual and spiritual laziness. Many denominations are fighting internal discordant battles over tangential issues.

Our schools are run by Educrats who were indoctrinated by the so-called "Schools of Education" to espouse feel-good nonsense that is handicapping our children in a global marketplace. Our students run amok because there are no adults at home, and there are fewer and fewer adults running the schools (Educrats notoriously lack the objectivity/realism quality listed above), and we are approaching an almost Lord-of-the-Flies-esque educational polity whose feeble pillars are collapsing under the weight of the fat bodied obesity of our thin-minded children.

Business, the last haven of adulthood, is suffering the consequences. The economy cannot sustain itself, in the long-run, with a nation of children. The free market itself breeds adults. Socialism and the Nanny State perpetuates childishness. It has become popular to talk about the "overcompensation" of CEOs in this country, and to talk about business as being "uncaring" and "cut-throat." Some of these things may be true in certain circumstances, but I would argue that by and large, business is just being adult. Google takes particularly good care of its employees, provides them lavish benefits, etc. But they subscribe to the philosophy, I'm sure of "To whom much is given, much is also required." Google employees work long hours, and spend the vast majority of their waking time at work. And if they didn't, they would be replaced.

Adulthood does not meant stuffiness (thank God!), but it does mean having to grow up. It doesn't mean having to wear a tie in July, but it does mean taking reality as it comes, and being a responsible agent in a world of problems. The old cliche saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks," is probably true in our present circumstance. The Baby Boomers spent too long being children. They were, in fact, the first generation of The Lost Boys. They rebelled against their parents' conservatism, and replaced it with a vacuous notion of "freedom." The eschewed the rules, but the rules came back to haunt them. They worshiped youth, and now they are old. But they are not mature. As Kipling said, using the Gods of the Copybook Headings as a metaphor for wisdom and, perhaps we could even say 'adultness,'

"The Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.
As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of man.
There are only four things certain since social progress began:
That the dog returns to his vomit, and the sow returns to her mire,
And the burnt fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the fire.
And as soon as this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins;
When all men are paid for existing, and no man must pay for his sins.
As surely as water will wet us, as surely as fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return."

As a member of Generation Y, I know that the only person for whom I can take responsibility is myself, and vicariously, for my generation. I can point out the problems with past generations, but I cannot preach to them, and I am highly unlikely to change them. But I can take responsibility for myself, and for being a voice in the wilderness to my own people, the 20-somethings and bordering-on-30-somethings with whom I went to kindergarten, elementary school, high school, and college, and with whom I am now working in my everyday life, who I meet at Starbucks or the local wine bar.

We have to be adults, even if nobody else wants to. The world needs us, and it needs us now.

What Have We Done Today?

We shall do much in the years to come,
But what have we done today?
We shall give out gold in a princely sum,
But what did we give today?
We shall lift the heart and dry the tear,
We shall plant a hope in the place of fear,
We shall speak the words of love and cheer,
But what did we speak today?

We shall be so kind in the after while,
But what have we done today?
We shall bring to each lonely life a smile,
But what have we brought today?
We shall give to truth a grander birth,
And to steadfast faith a deeper worth,
We shall feed the hungering souls of earth,But whom have we fed today?

We shall reap such joys in the by and by,
But what have we sown today?
We shall build us mansions in the sky,
But what have we built today?
`Tis sweet in the idle dreams to bask;
But here and now, do we our task?
Yet, this is the thing our souls must ask,
What have we done today?

-Nixon Waterman

My friend Andy (AndyEllwood.com) has made a point to me on several occasions now that Generation Y doesn't actually do anything when they see injustice, they don't take action when they see a need for change, they just blog about it, or put up a YouTube video. We communicate for communication's sake, hoping that somehow our words or our YouTube clips will change the world. Kipling warned against this, saying in his poem IF "If you can dream and not make dreams your master, if you can think and not make thoughts your aim." Yet this is what we do on a daily basis. We feel that because we have used the power of the pen, or at least the keyboard, we have effected some sort of change and nothing beyond the words is really necessary. This post is almost a performative contradiction, I know. It means that in order to not be a hypocrite I have to actually *do* something this week beyond merely blog.

I have heard some of my friends say that our generation needs a voice. The problem is not that we don't have voices; nay, the problem is that we have a cacophony of voices. Generation Y needs a purpose, a unified cause, not the multitude of causes celebre that seem to populate blogs and Facebook groups. The Generation Y people I know who are involved in politics are a bunch of sycophants and "yes men" who want nothing more than the taste of power. If you don't believe me, walk into any random campaign office and look for the people between the ages of 18 and 30. You'll be disgusted.

I am not writing this as if I have the solution. I really don't know what it is, but we as a generation need to be thinking about it and figuring things out. I'm not sure the country can survive many more Baby Boomer-controlled Congresses or White Houses. But it isn't just with respect to politics that I am writing this post. I think it applies to many facets of society. We need leaders to rise up from GenX&Y in business, the Church, and education as well, and we seem to be devoid of such leaders. The reason is that leadership comes at a price. Most people aren't willing to pay it. The few who are rarely do so for the right reasons, and so they don't make good leaders.

We don't have a lot of time. We need to start a dialog. Join the dialog. Comment on this blog. Write your own thoughts somewhere: your myspace blog, a facebook note. Start thinking. Start talking. And let's all start doing, so we have an affirmative answer to the question "What have we done today?"