The Recession Generation

Reading the Sunday Times on Monday, a story called "The Making of Generation OMG," I come upon these words: Regardless of their age, members of the recession generation will most likely be shaped by a return to Things That Matter, a redefinition of values.

Less eventual emphasis on consuming, the article makes clear. A greater value placed on family life and secure jobs, a quest for "personal meaning."

Besides reminding me of the subtitle of a book I once wrote (Into the Tangle of Friendship: A Memoir of the Things that Matter), the story made me think of all the young people I've lately had the privilege of knowing, if only for a day. The children of North Philadelphia, with whom I went out taking photos one afternoon. The young writers of a few weeks ago. The young poet, K., whom I mentor. Moira, my University of Pennsylvania intern (and ultimate inspiration for Zenobia, that curious book of business). The kids at church. My own son. The bloggers—Erin, Liviania, Maya, Priya, Emily Ruth, Cuileann, Tasha, Lauren, Joyce, That One Girl Emily, the list goes on and on—who have their whole lives ahead of them and are choosing to use their right now to read good books and to engage in intelligent, thoughtful conversations about matters I couldn't grasp until I was twice their age.

Even before the breadth and depth of this recession had been augured, these young people were engaged in a quest for meaning. They were, at the same time, expecting to be engaged. By books, by art, by possibilities, by adults who might listen and might suggest a way. This recession will reshape all of us, no doubt. It will also pave the way for those who already have so much to give, who are thinking way beyond the few words afforded by Twitter, who have already committed their lives, as Erin wrote a few days ago, to making people feel stuff.