hopelessness begins at home, part one

Coming to a realization is defined as "the act of becoming fully aware of something as a fact". So it means that you have finally come to know something as true that has been true all along, you just hadn't... well... realized it yet. I believe that the specific phrase "coming to a realization" can also mean that you have become conscious of an idea that has long been tucked away in your brain, and has suddenly been shown the light of day, much to your own surprise. Today it was to my own surprise that I came to a new realization. It shouldn't shock me so much, because I come to new conclusions daily, with each day building on the one before. But today's was particularly amusing.

I'm going to break this up a bit, into several posts. The new blogger "beta" is extremely confusing, but now at least I can arrange my posts in the order I want them to be in, so for the first time, this will actually go: one, two three, four.

hopelessness begins at home... the official beginning:

I was watching a news clip from The Nation (a great political news magazine of which, as is the case with all magazines, I am not a subscriber, but should be) and what I saw opened my mind to a new, dim, reality. The clip was about the involvement of my generation in different politcal and social battles. The reporter visited three protests to gauge the involvement of his own generation in different issues. The subjects at hand were: the war in Iraq, a genocide in Darfur and the Sudan, and immigration. Both the Darfur protest in D.C. and the immigration rally in New York were well attended by younger generations. Although the key speaker at the Iraq war protest was a young Iraqi veteran (who was probably about 26 or 27 years old), the people in attendance were predominantly senior citizens, or people about to arrive there. The same can be said about a rally a close friend of mine attended when George Bush visited the Merchant Marine Academy here on Long Island. Their message was simple: if you care about American solders, then don't put them in harms way for no reason: stop the war in Iraq.

The absence of people my age at these events is disheartening at best, and scary in reality. The part that concerns me most is not that I am thinking this is a sign that "kids these days" dont care about the War, or who is President, or what crimes he commits. I know this is not the case. By and large, most people my age do not support the fictional "War on Terror" and are not, even the Republican ones, supportive of the Dubya or the Cheney Dick. And that is precisely what worries me. The strong convictions, but lack of involvement people my age show concerning social and political injustices and wrongdoings is the flag of hopelessness being raised above the heads of America's younger generation. They feel strongly about issues, and do take action on those they feel they can make a difference in (Immigration issues, and rallying support to end Genocide that is not being committed by the nation in which they are citizens). These are approachable subjects. But young Americans feel no political connection with their government, or their respesentatives. People my age feel very strongly about the Iraq war, oil companies freed from paying taxes, and the oil and drug industries grip on Congress and the Senate. But that is one tree that is just too big to climb. Why? Well that's where my realization comes in. I saw, very clearly, that there are two quite expansive inherant flaws that lie in the American voting system. It is these two things, and their effects, that have caused many an American, particularly young ones, to give up.

to be continued...