Nisarg Lives - Oct '09 Crossroad

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ISSUE#7
IN
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J MOSS
TERRELL SUGGS
DOWNHERE
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hat It’s Like To Be Young in A
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erica LIVING WITH PURPOSE
F
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WHERE HAS COMMITMENT
IN MARRIAGE GONE?
40 // LIFESTYLE
YOUNG
IN
AMERICA
What It’s Like to Be
by Nisarg N. Shukla
CROSSROADMAG.COM
We’re free flowing
here, so come enjoy
this ride with me.
All throughout life, at least the way I was
brought up, you’re told what to want to
become when you grow up, whom to
emulate, and what would be the ‘logical’
step. At 23, I can tell you, it’s all bs.
That car you want, that job you want,
this article I’m writing – all of it – you
don’t need any of it. But you already
know that, right? Somebody tell me why
it sucks to be young in America.
I’m gonna fast forward to around high
school, which is around the first time
you’re ready to think for yourself. Now, a
few of us, by sixteen, seventeen, already
know what we want to do with our lives.
Unless you’re gonna be a doctor or
lawyer (assuming you can afford it), an
engineer (what high schooler knows
exactly what engineers do anyway?),
Even a cop or a wrestler or a teacher or
A-Rod; unless you know exactly what
you want, and I must stress the fact that
this is a small population, you’re
screwed. The rest of us have no clue.
I fall into the category of ‘the rest of us’.
High Schools and Colleges try their best
with ‘the Arts’ and all this fancy-shmancy
nonsense to guide you in the right direc-
tion – but they fail miserably. What exact-
ly does a Business degree get you? The
knowledge to run a business, but no
experience? A piece of paper that says
you know a little of everything, but have
no real technical skills?
In college, we all live up to one ideal –
party hard. Waste our parents’ money,
waste our time, drink out of kegs – and
then have reality smack you in the face
once you’re done. And I’ve done all of
this – I just wish I woulda stopped
myself. All those years spent toiling
around at campus, would have been far
better spent building my skills in some-
thing useful.
What frustrates me most is the utter dis-
regard for free thinking, which is beat
down into our brains since childhood.
What happened to all these adults – did-
n’t they have dreams? Talk to your
teacher and dare them to deviate from
the lesson plan – it seems as if most
people would rather just shut off their
brains, rather than think for a change.
Another common misconception is the
importance of a college degree. Sure, I’ve
got a degree, but also spent four years
putting in half an effort into things I could-
n’t care less about. Does that make me
‘more qualified’ than a plumber, or con-
tractor, that spent those four years learn-
ing his respective trade? Again, I repre-
sent the white-collar crowd, those of us
with no real specialty.
Barack Obama recently went on televi-
sion and gave a speech to the nation’s
school kids. Simultaneously, the right
wing of America had a heart attack. So
tell me, what’s so wrong about the
President of the United States address-
ing its youth? And don’t give me a turn-
off-our-brains-it’s-just-because answer.
Give me a real one. Under Obama, I’m
sure it’s great to be young in America.
This guy is an inspiration, period. Even if
his administration fails (and I hope it
doesn’t), he’s historic. Period.
“
It’s time for a revolution
of ideas. Free-thinking
needs to come back.
”
continued on next page
But that’s not my generation. My gen-
eration? We’re the ‘lost generation’.
Most of my graduating class is in
debt, out of work, and addicted to the
Internet (among other things). I place
some of the blame on the Republican
right and their bastardization of Barry
Goldwater’s ideologies over the last
three decades. But most of the blame
goes onto myself – for actually listen-
ing to others.
Now, before you put me in the Kanye-
at-the-VMA’s category, let me explain.
I now know what my skill is – it’s writ-
ing. If I want to convey specialty of any
kind, I do it through writing. I didn’t
want to believe it; I’ve always hated
writing. I shun the praise I get,
because writing comes so easy to me
– much of the time, appreciation
seems undeserved.
Jay-Z believes that rap comes easy to
him – it’s a natural gift. It took him till
age twenty-seven or so to use it as an
economic means. Imagine, if I had
used my writing at age 16 (which is
when I first went to college), as
opposed to those four dreadful years?
It’s time for a change. A collective
change. It’s time for a revolution; a
revolution, which, to paraphrase the
aberrant Jesse Ventura, doesn’t have
to be violent. Think the Enlightenment,
Gandhi’s non-violence; it’s time for a
revolution of ideas. Free-thinking
needs to come back.
I’m starting with myself. I’m gonna do
the 9-to-5 thing, sure, but it won’t be
the end-all, be-all. Just a means,
baby. A means to get by. At least until
this writing here starts paying the bills.
So, I gotta ask…what you gonna do?