Social Citizens

I’ll be honest, I haven’t really “read” most of the articles that have been assigned this semester; but this one made me stop and think. I read the whole thing! I’m so used to, like so many other people my age, of being “observed” and “concluded about”. Most of these observations have always been more or less attacks on my generation; they’re attacks about how we are brainwashed by social networking. But I was pleasantly surprised to see just straight observations about myself that I definitely agreed with. The biggest one I noticed is how activism and causes and volunteering are such a huge part of our lives. I needed to do hours of community service for Boy Scouts, church, National Honors Society and several other organizations that I was a part of. In fact, as I read the article, a Habitat for Humanity commercial aired on the TV, and Kermit the Frog told me that “volunteering was great”. If I volunteered, I would receive a day pass to Walt Disney World. Causes have, in a way, become more and more business-like over the years. Yes, they are still non-profit, but they still advertise and merchandise just as much as for-profit companies. I think the reason for the huge growth in social awareness and causes is that my generation is constantly reminded of our negative impacts on the Earth with consumerism and carbon footprints. I can sort of see us validating our consumerism because we feel that we give back. For example, you want a really expensive pair of jeans, but you feel less guilty about buying it because your purchase is donating money to a cause such as breast cancer research. We recycle and consider ourselves environmentalists, but in reality, are we really environmentalists. So maybe we recycle, but then maybe we climb into a gas-guzzling SUV and drive to work.