Generation Half-Ass

I've been thinking about the following:

Every generation gets a chance to change the world.

What have we done? What are 80s babies doing to make our impact? It seems pretty obvious that the youth/movers and shakers of the 60s made strides for race equality. The 70s marched for and accomplished rights for women. The 80s movement - well, since it was the Me Generation, I'm not surprised much got done for other people. But what about the 90s and the two thousands (00s) - what are we doing?

Will our fight for the environment be heralded and attributed to us? Are we doing enough to make it count? I would say that we have made differences in 3 things: littering, recycling and seatbelts.

Part of me wishes I could have been a part of the heydays of yesteryear - where people marched on Washington, had sit-ins for peace or faced down military barricades with daisies. Sure, it was dangerous and maybe foolhardy, but it meant something and it made a difference.

We study these movements, these fights, these figureheads in school - what will kids learn about us? We sat around and made our individual lives better? We bought stuff, we made more technology than we knew what to do with, we Twittered??

Sure, we're talking about the environment, but will it really make the impact it should? I feel like the radicals in the 60s would have chained themselves to oil tankers, marched in front of loggers, whatever it took. And what about the war? Those who are opposed to it haven't made quite the stir of Vietnam opposers.

I'm not saying I'm in any position to do these things, but when I sit and compare our generation to those before me, I feel selfish and disappointed.

I could be wrong.