intergenerational differences
For anyone in Minneapolis area anytime soon, you should go see Third. It's playing at the Guthrie. I made the rush tonight and found a decent ticket.
The play is some world-changing, hippie, idealistic professor at a small, elite college who hates one of her students merely because he's a athletic, X Y the third, traditional republican. There's a good deal of theme there, with a poorly explored sub-theme of near death people (cancerous friend and dying father) having a better perspective of things.
I instead noticed the difference between generations. It is never made an explicit theme, and it is probably ignored by the majority of audience. We don't think like our elder generation. 100 years ago, people had the mindset that their work would create their lives. 50 years ago, people had the mindset that their work would change the world. Now, we're dealing with those changes. Society has moved leaps and bounds in the past 100 years. Rights are now something that (theoretically) apply to a person, not a special kind of person. We're losing our activists though. They used to be our young people. Now they're our old people. Few are stepping up to replace them. Now, people join the peace corps because it's a shortcut to traveling. Why is that?
The playwright suggested that we live as we do in reaction to an ever changing world, and perhaps she's right. I don't plan. I don't expect there to be anything there for me when I need it to be. As an extension, I tend to keep myself grounded with realistic goals and no great crusades. You really need to through you life away to be a true activist these days (but it's certainly a matter of perspective). As an extension, I don't take up banners even of causes I support. Instead, I live my life as a life should be lived, and hope to guide others in that path. I have the mindset that work will change my immediate surroundings.
The scope has changed. I see adults frustrated and unfulfilled despite achieving greatness only imaginable in youth. Some have even succeeded in changing the world. They aren't happy though because their dreams demand perfection. Most of them feel alone. People are beginning to realize that it's not your footprint on the world as fame or money but your true happiness that has any value. Rather than fighting for years for a cause that leaves you an empty shell, people are fighting apathy and stagnation.
At least that's my intellectual view. In a world of nearly unlimited possiblities. Many people bastardize it by simply becoming hedonists. They don't care about other people; they only want things their way. While these people have also limited their scope, they will be as unfulfilled as their world-striding parents. Another extreme are the throw-backs. They live in that world-changing mindset. Every day is a new battle. However when a battle is won, they don't feel any peace. With fewer and fewer allies, their battles will only get harder.
Perhaps, this analysis is for nothing. It is quite possible that no one has changed from year to year, and these groups are always present. How they operate varies from year to year, but the personalities remain consistent. Somehow, I find it hard to believe no one before has had a level head about life.
The play is some world-changing, hippie, idealistic professor at a small, elite college who hates one of her students merely because he's a athletic, X Y the third, traditional republican. There's a good deal of theme there, with a poorly explored sub-theme of near death people (cancerous friend and dying father) having a better perspective of things.
I instead noticed the difference between generations. It is never made an explicit theme, and it is probably ignored by the majority of audience. We don't think like our elder generation. 100 years ago, people had the mindset that their work would create their lives. 50 years ago, people had the mindset that their work would change the world. Now, we're dealing with those changes. Society has moved leaps and bounds in the past 100 years. Rights are now something that (theoretically) apply to a person, not a special kind of person. We're losing our activists though. They used to be our young people. Now they're our old people. Few are stepping up to replace them. Now, people join the peace corps because it's a shortcut to traveling. Why is that?
The playwright suggested that we live as we do in reaction to an ever changing world, and perhaps she's right. I don't plan. I don't expect there to be anything there for me when I need it to be. As an extension, I tend to keep myself grounded with realistic goals and no great crusades. You really need to through you life away to be a true activist these days (but it's certainly a matter of perspective). As an extension, I don't take up banners even of causes I support. Instead, I live my life as a life should be lived, and hope to guide others in that path. I have the mindset that work will change my immediate surroundings.
The scope has changed. I see adults frustrated and unfulfilled despite achieving greatness only imaginable in youth. Some have even succeeded in changing the world. They aren't happy though because their dreams demand perfection. Most of them feel alone. People are beginning to realize that it's not your footprint on the world as fame or money but your true happiness that has any value. Rather than fighting for years for a cause that leaves you an empty shell, people are fighting apathy and stagnation.
At least that's my intellectual view. In a world of nearly unlimited possiblities. Many people bastardize it by simply becoming hedonists. They don't care about other people; they only want things their way. While these people have also limited their scope, they will be as unfulfilled as their world-striding parents. Another extreme are the throw-backs. They live in that world-changing mindset. Every day is a new battle. However when a battle is won, they don't feel any peace. With fewer and fewer allies, their battles will only get harder.
Perhaps, this analysis is for nothing. It is quite possible that no one has changed from year to year, and these groups are always present. How they operate varies from year to year, but the personalities remain consistent. Somehow, I find it hard to believe no one before has had a level head about life.