Legal Commentary

A Generational Shift?

By TChris

There are young Americans like this all over the nation. These two are from Indianapolis:

[George] Srour, 24, was inspired by a Second Presbyterian Church speech given by local civic leader Jim Morris, who at the time was running the United Nations World Food Program. Srour landed an internship with the agency and saw schools in Uganda that didn't have walls or a roof. He raised $35,000 from fellow students at the College of William & and Mary for the first school building. His organization, Building Tomorrow, finished two more schools last month. ...

[Rachel] Sparks, 25, started her film work after learning about girls sold into prostitution in Thailand. She led a small group of young adults to Thailand last year to make a $75,000 documentary.

Remember the Me Generation? Sparks thinks today's 20-somethings belong to a more inclusive, less self-indulgent world. [more ...]

"Many say ours is a generation that is self-involved and apathetic," she said. "The SOLD Project says we are a generation hungry for social justice and full of the passion to create change."

Trends aside, every generation is a collection of individuals, and a percentage of those individuals born every year feel motivated to improve the larger world. What Srour and Sparks are doing on their own will accomplish that goal. For that they deserve our gratitude. If the percentage in Rachel Sparks' generation "hungry for social justice" is large, their opportunities to create lasting and systemic change will multiply.

What do you think? Does the generation of Rachel Sparks and George Srour represent a dramatic shift in the willingness of Americans to focus the government's resources (with or without private sector partnerships) on economic and social injustice in the United States and around the world? Has the clock spun around the dial, to the time when CSN&Y sang:

We can change the world
Rearrange the world
It's dying --
if you believe in justice
and if you believe in freedom
Let a man live his own life
Rules and regulations, who needs them
Open up the door

(And no, to those who watch the linked video, this post is not a prediction that the Denver convention will resemble Chicago 1968. Nor is it an endorsement of a libertarian view of rules and regulations. It's just a link to a cool song. Enjoy.)

Full post as published by TalkLeft on July 05, 2008 (boomark / email).