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Opinion

Next generation has many failures to fix

Daniela Carpio
Opinion Columnist

I love it when politicians, teachers and even families declare that we are the generation that will accomplish everything they could not. As baby boomers grow old and "flower children" retire, they recall their triumphs with great pride and pass onto this generation the burden of improving society.

I can't help but wonder if those hopes and dream are meant as encouragement for the advancement of humanity or as a self-indulgent pursuit to excuse their perceived shortcomings. 

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it is the latter. But why should it matter that they failed? If indeed they failed, then why is it so vital that we succeed?

It is hard for me to imagine the generation that preceded us as a group of failures. We are the consumers of a path created by our predecessors, and to say that we are the "Internet generation" that is responsible for the technological revolution of the past few years is a misguided notion.

Sure, sociologically speaking we are the first generation to have been raised on computers and cell phones, but these devices were created for us, not by us.

When the future of humanity looks back at history, they will not see our parents pioneering in technology; they will only see the generation that embraced the wireless, paperless revolution. Therefore, the preceding generation gets shafted.

It is vital that we succeed in order to keep their place in history. Our predecessors hold as much at stake in our triumphs as they do in our failures. Sixty years from now, we will be pushing our children and grandchildren to improve on our shortcomings guaranteeing our place in history.

I only hope that we, as a generation, prove to be better than those who came before us -- that we may rise above the need for validation, to spare our children the pressures of pursuing our dreams and the frustration of realizing their frivolity.

Carpio, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at nielaca@hotmail.com.