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It's a Dirty, Dirty, Dirty, Dirty World
by Noelle F
This article was originally published in The Hilltop Herald, campus newspaper at Concordia University, Irvine, Ca. It is a look at the reality of how the "Y" generation was raised to disrespect our surroundings and have become lazy and dependent.
It's a Dirty, Dirty, Dirty, Dirty World By: Noelle Franzen I picked up a Styrofoam to-go box on my way out of Delta the other day because it was just sitting there in the middle of the quad. I live in Delta and I don't want trash just piling up, but I wondered, how many others that live in this quad, or visit it, just walked right by the box? Apparently, it is an extremely difficult task for most college students to bend over and pick up a piece of trash. If that Styrofoam box were on your front lawn at home, would you just leave it there? I highly doubt it. I also highly doubt that most students attending Concordia were raised by hyenas. My point: simply that our generation, call it what you will, has potentially the greatest number of advantages known to man-- technologically, materialistically and economically--so why are we so lazy? Why is it so hard to clean up after ourselves?
Here is my theory: All of the "advantages" so graciously developed, enhanced and handed down by our parents' generation for the advancement of society, have been taken advantage of by our generation. How? Or better yet, why? In retrospect, we could say it is because we are a disposable society. We throw them away, as we do everything else, for…you guessed it, those exact "advantages". We have been given TOO much. We are a generation that gets what we want when we want it. Consequently, we misuse the exact privileges we should be making good use of.
Technology is the first example of an advantage we overuse. Today's college, and in many cases, high school student is fully equipped with numerous electronic devices ranging in size and ability. We have cell phones, pagers, Palm Pilots, e-mail and instant messaging: anything and everything to eliminate the possibility that we might actually speak to someone face to face or God forbid, write a letter. We no longer get to know our neighbors, say "good afternoon" to a stranger on the street or meet someone just to talk. All of these so-called advancements in technology actually hinder our ability to function as sociable, amiable adults.
Material goods have also become an undeniable stronghold in society today. Their commerce fuels our economy and provides a way, through retail chains, for people seeking temporary happiness, to fill a seemingly continuous void. As a generation, we settle for nothing less than the most fashionable, most well known brand name items on the market, from shoes to sandwich bags. Our parents didn't have Air Jordans, so are we better off because we do? I hope we don't think that, but it is a reality of our materialistic society that if we saw a kid running around in beat up, old Converses we would jump to the conclusion that he was poor or neglected.
Economically, even when in a recession, we have much more of a monetary cushion than preceding generations. We have money to throw away on fast food, gym memberships and everything that falls into the "junk" category—namely things that take up space, collect dust and serve no purpose whatsoever. Why, when it is cheaper to prepare your own food (not to mention healthier), take a jog (that's free, by the way) and live without those "impulse items", do we perpetuate our financially bad habits? We buy clothes that just hang in our closets, we "soup up" our cars, spending hundreds and thousands of dollars on grills, rims and exhaust. What are we trying to prove?
I must digress however, and admit that I do not always abide by the rules I think we, as a collective generation, should adhere to. It is easy to slip into lazy, complacent patterns: sometimes it's just our nature. But that's the point; just because something is easier or more convenient, doesn't always mean it should be done. Hard work builds character and our generation needs as much of that as we can get. Unfortunately, the concept of hard work is not thoroughly emphasized in our generation and subsequently not emphasized at Concordia. The trash situation, on campus and elsewhere, epitomizes the decay of culture. This, along with the backward hats, baggy pants, tattoos and piercings so readily embraced by young adults today, further proves to other generations and unfortunately future ones, that it is perfectly normal and beneficial to succumb to assimilation, complacency and ultimately, slothful living. Barbarism is returning. Slowly but surely we are slipping into habits soon to be rendered irreversible by even the mightiest of efforts. We can pretend to care, we can pick up the occasional piece of trash or we can hold "Clean Up Days", which by the way, when held in Delta last month, was only attended by 1/8 of its residents. But instead, we sit idly by and let trash pile up, attract animals and insects, degrading the overall image of Concordia and ourselves. The big question is now, what will WE do about it?
About the Author
Noelle is a senior at Concordia University in Irvine, CA, majoring in English. She hopes to find work writing satirical/politically themed articles for magazines after graduation. If that doesn't happen...well, she'll just be a struggling writer living on saltines and jugs of water.
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