Theme Six: Explosive choices can be daunting, but accelerate “rites of passage”
Another aspect of the double-edged sword for Generation Peace is the abundance of information and opportunities available. Every two years, the amount of new information becoming available to the world increases twofold. That’s now. Predictions are that by 2010, twice the amount of new information will be generated every three days.
When is so much too much?
Bergquist sees the plethora of information available on the Internet in part as compensation for the dearth of face-to-face communication. She knows that whatever the question, she can research it on the Web. And yet, just knowing how many college and career choices are available can be daunting. “It’s very intimidating to have to look ahead at your entire life with all of the new information that we’re getting every day,” she says.
Ultimately, however, “information and education nurture hope,” says Dinwoodie. A member of Generation Peace, she has already held a number of different jobs. The result? “It’s given me a holistic view,” she says.”
Grey agrees. “You get to be exposed to a bigger circle of influence,” she says.
Students such as Bergquist can look forward to an ever wider such circle of influence. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that students today will have been in approximately one dozen jobs by the time they’re 38. And a number of these jobs don’t even yet exist.
Such nimbleness in the job market may also be accelerating the pace at which Generation Peace attains maturity. Orsborn likens these job changes to a series of initiation rites, “speeding up the pace at which [younger] people are going through their life stages.”
Additionally, this near-constant exploration may keep members of Generation Peace from defining themselves and their life purpose exclusively by their work. Jobs themselves may undergo a transformation, to better fit within the growing culture of inclusiveness.
What’s needed — and wanted — is more mentoring, both peer-to-peer and intergenerational.
Says Grey: “It’s really what one does with their education, and what one decides to do with knowledge, that leads to either hope or despair.”
For Libby Traubman, the product of an earlier generation, the choice is equally clear: “Speaking for my generation, we have to stay on the path and help Generation Peace hold on to their idealism.”
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