Thursday, March 13, 2008

My satisfaction


I saw this poem on my dad's blog and am wondering what (or who) motivated it?

Times are changing once again
The things we sought
When we were young
No longer satisfy the youthful ones

Since I'm rapidly closing on 40, I may not be the youthful one, though I imagine my life is different than what most people in the previous generation sought. My youngest brother, heading home from college today, could have kicked off the thoughts behind these words. I will ask my dad.

That is the nice thing about knowing the author, the ability to request clarification.

What do you think the next generation seeks?

5 comments:

gmehl said...

While much of the content of what I write is expressed consciously, the source of this one was more obscure. In this case it was spontaneous and has had me puzzling over it as you have.

shell said...

I think the next generation wants honesty and authenticity. No matter how ugly, they just want the truth. Or maybe this is just me....
:)

Dogwood Dell said...

I think the next generation seeks the same things once sought by an older generation.

What is sought in youth? Life calls us to discover love, to understand our world and to define our sense of being & worth. Typically in youth one is so self-absorbed and self-aware because one is trying to so hard to discover these items. The journey is no longer sought as much when one gets older.

Then reason? Well...By the time one gets older, one typically finds love, defines themselves within their world and accepts their contributions to the community.

As we get older, we create our definitions of ourselves. We are no longer self-absorbed but we are busy doing what we’re called to do in life.

Reflection may take place at mid-life to assess if we’ve discovered the items sought in youth. Some may have realized they didn’t answer these initial questions while others accept life as it is in the present.

The past shows us the road traveled and the future the opportunity. In the end, one must always focus on the present. No need tripping over a stone on life’s journey.

EdistoCam said...

In the spirit of the poem HM found on her father’s website, here are two poems of Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967), the venerable African American poet, novelist, playwright, short story writer and columnist.
Frost

Dreams

Bring me all of your dreams, you dreamer
Bring me all of your heart melodies
That I may wrap them in a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers of the world
And that is what poetry may do
Wrap up your dreams
Protect and preserve them
And hold them until maybe they’ll come true
All the progress that human beings have made
On this old earth of ours Grew out of dreams

That is why it is wise I should think . . .
To hold fast to dreams —
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow
----

Youth

We have tomorrow
Bright before us
Like a flame Yesterday
A night-gone thing
A sun-down name
And dawn — today
Broad arch above
The road we came
We march
Americans together!
We march!
----

Unknown said...

I'm only six years old, of course, so my practical experience may be limited, but I also love studying history and from that perspective I don't think this generation is much different than any other generation. The bad elements seem worse because of widespread constant in-your-face media, of course, but we don't really want anything fundamentally different than anyone else.

In other words, we want what all humans have always wanted: security, comfort, success, attention, and happiness. The only "new" item on our list, methinks, is the iPhone.

But even old people want iPhones!

(For the record, I don't really want an iPhone -- not until they have QWERTY keypads!)

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."
~SOCRATES (469–399 B.C.)

Something that fascinates me about history is that the men and women who walked the earth so long ago are always so similar to us when you study them closely. I can read a Victorian novel and feel that resonation of shared experience. I can look at a Roman sculpture and be moved. I think we are here on earth to connect with other humans, and I find it chilling and awe-inspiring when I connect with people who died generations ago.

Look at the young people of every generation and you'll see that they shocked and disappointed the more conservative members of the previous generation. Rock and Roll shocked the Jazz-aged. Jazz shocked the rag-timers. Rag-time shocked the Victorians polka people. And on and on.

And things are so different today?

-Aaron