2008 Woodie Awards
Obama offers hope for real change, truly engages our generation
By: Amia Jackson
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Opinion
There are three fundamental American tenets that every member of our generation has been told. First, you can be anything you want to be as long as you work hard enough. Second, in order to have a real future, you must attend college. Third, all of the best years, the most important years, the revolutionary years, are behind us.
It is this last tenet that is most disconcerting. It's the reason we are all searching for our place and purpose on this planet. It is the reason the campus has so many causes, mini-protests, and demonstrations.
It is also the reason we have so much apathy. We as a generation all want to change the world, to make it a better place, or at the very least to leave our mark and our claim for future generations. At the same time, we could accept that we can have no real change in it and instead decide not to give a shit.
Those of us who follow the former route are overwhelmingly Obama supporters.
This is not to say that Hillary supporters don't give a shit. Democrats will agree that Hillary would make a good president. Some would even contend that if Barack Obama weren't running, she would be their first choice.
But as members of this generation, and especially as students on this campus, we are not satisfied with mediocrity. We are not even content with being good.
We see the speeches of JFK, hear the speeches of MLK, and think of the importance of the politics, race relations, and social movements of the 60s, and we can't help but feel that the time is now for us to be seen, heard, and thought about. Because of this election, we are getting that chance.
We have been living in a system that promotes overachievement as achievement, in a nation that tells you that you have to be extraordinary to succeed. All the while, we are told that we don't measure up to the competition.
Of course, it doesn't matter that the competition is ourselves. But that kind of thinking left us wanting something more, something revolutionary.
It is this last tenet that is most disconcerting. It's the reason we are all searching for our place and purpose on this planet. It is the reason the campus has so many causes, mini-protests, and demonstrations.
It is also the reason we have so much apathy. We as a generation all want to change the world, to make it a better place, or at the very least to leave our mark and our claim for future generations. At the same time, we could accept that we can have no real change in it and instead decide not to give a shit.
Those of us who follow the former route are overwhelmingly Obama supporters.
This is not to say that Hillary supporters don't give a shit. Democrats will agree that Hillary would make a good president. Some would even contend that if Barack Obama weren't running, she would be their first choice.
But as members of this generation, and especially as students on this campus, we are not satisfied with mediocrity. We are not even content with being good.
We see the speeches of JFK, hear the speeches of MLK, and think of the importance of the politics, race relations, and social movements of the 60s, and we can't help but feel that the time is now for us to be seen, heard, and thought about. Because of this election, we are getting that chance.
We have been living in a system that promotes overachievement as achievement, in a nation that tells you that you have to be extraordinary to succeed. All the while, we are told that we don't measure up to the competition.
Of course, it doesn't matter that the competition is ourselves. But that kind of thinking left us wanting something more, something revolutionary.
Be the first to comment on this story