29 November, 2007

we'd rather be wearing nice jeans.

Lately I have been really thinking about identity. where do I find it? where do you? we had a friend over the other night and we were talking about how our generation finds it's identity in different places than our parent's generation. According to Brad who is studying this type of thing right now, "our parents and their parents found their identity in their jobs, our generation would rather spend less time at their work, make less and come home with more time to do things that they love to do".
We would rather have the time than the money is what studies say. We would rather do more of what we love and sacrifice by not making as much as we possibly could...or do we make some from our jobs and borrow a lot more from creditors than our parents would have???

I do wonder where we find our identity. I know that our parents did not get it right by finding it in who they became professionally...and I think we are just as far off, if not further. We are not classified by what we do at work, we are identified by what we spend our time off doing. We can go to concerts, be rock climbers, cyclists, I would argue that our generation has become a first glance generation. A microwave generation, a generation that is not willing to be patient and wait for something. This will sound mean, but I think many have given up on the issues of character, not willing to work on issues that people wouldn't see until the second or third date. We spend to much to look good and and not just look good but do it as if our lives depended on it. The deepness and the selflessness, honesty, and the value of our word is dwindling, the character that will make you stick through it all, is so far removed from who we are today...let's just say it straight: we'd rather be wearing nice jeans.


I know posts such as these do not get comments, so I am expecting none...but go for it, give your two cents...if you have not already spent them.

7 comments:

mostly ugly said...

just saying...i agree. and I WOULD rather be wearing nice jeans. But hail to the God of heaven and earth for being wiser than I, knowing what i need better than I and putting a stop to the ENDLESS, deceiving, unfullfilling, and empty pursuit of materialistic perfection, that is, until I, in weakness, take it up again. Good oobservations, B.

mostly ugly said...

btw, what is an "oobservation?" anyway? glad I can spell.

bethany said...

yah. me too. this is something we have been thinking a lot about lately and working on. this is a hard season for non-materialistic behaviours, but I do feel so much better and satisfied so much deeper when I don't give in to the "me firstness" of our culture and generation.

thanks for your comment girl...hope to see you tonight?!

Ellyn Canfield said...

I like this post. I just blogged about an evening I spent with a group of grad students and the NYU president, and it was one of those experiences that just made me feel like our generation is missing the point. I know there is fallacy in thinking always of the "good ol' times" but it does seem like this incredible pressure to be and do and have at a million miles per hour is somehow uniquely strong to us. But then again, it has afforded us more oppurtunities to do good than those before us- more resources and means for outreach. But I think we, or I at least, get too distracted by it all do actually do anything most of the time.

MamaP said...

I agree with you B. This is a short but great thought.

Luke Zedwick said...

So I don't know if testosterone is welcome in a comment post like this, but i have to say that i only own one pair of jeans and that's plenty for me. i do however own 5 bicycles and have lately been shopping for another. that being said, i have always enjoyed what my possessions say about me, and i think that's not so bad. they say that i'd rather have a second hand bike than an expensive one. they say that i carry my son around in the seat attached to the back. they say that though the bike is ugly, the parts are actually racing level, and i do enjoy racing the occasional car in the rainy ride home. Nicole would tell me that i'm always wanting more, and that certainly is lustful materialism, but i also see the things i own as saying something about me. I could be wrong. as tyler durdon once said: You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your f*ing khakis. You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

bethany said...

Luke, I guess it depends to me on weather you live for them, or they for you. Or if you define them, or they define who you are.

I am not saying to "rid ourselves from all material possessions"...but that we should now who we are without them.

On a different note, I know what you mean about collecting things you really like. Brad and I have this dream of one day having a library with super tall ceilings and books that go all the way up, completely lining the walls....anyway just a side note. everyone enjoys something right?