I am in awe of how quickly time escapes me and each year I feel pulled into a vortex where time only accelerates. It’s true: time is precious. In my humble opinion, it is one of the most precious and rare gifts we have from God because you can’t own it, manipulate it, make or buy more of it, so you have to wisely choose how it is spent as you can only do so much with the time you’re given.
That has left me pondering the age-old question: so what do you do with the time you have?
The key I’ve found (at least in my own life) is in focusing on the bigger picture instead of always looking internally. I discover more about myself (good and bad) when I look beyond my own life to recognize and care about the needs of others. Whenever I ponder purpose, it always ends up coming back to the same principle: leaving a legacy, something behind on this Earth bigger and better than myself. As a Christian, I’m not taking about money or businesses or even necessarily government as much as I mean sharing the love and word of God with others through serving and living a life of conviction and values. Much, much easier said than done. That being said, I’m not alone in that sentiment. Doing a bit of Googling, I found (on Nationalservice.gov) that more people volunteer through religious based organizations than through any other type of organization. Furthermore, youth volunteering is on the rise, particularly through educational and youth service organizations. These factors all contribute to the fact that volunteering is the highest it has been in the last 30 years.
Interesting Facts I Dug Up:
(Research data from NationalService.org)
- The number of college students who volunteer is up
by approximately 20 percent from 2002 to 2005
n The number of college students volunteering grew
by 600,000 from 2.7 million in 2002 to 3.3 million in
2005. - The growth rate of college student volunteers
(approximately 20%) is more than double the growth
rate of all adult volunteers (9%).
n In 2005, approximately 30.2 percent of college
students volunteered, exceeding the volunteer rate
for the general adult population of 28.8 percent.
The growth in college volunteering has been generated
primarily by youth who attended high school or
were first-year college students during the terrorist
attacks of 9/11 - The vast majority (84%) of current college student
volunteers were of high-school age (14 to 18 years old)
in 2001. - Since September 2001, the overall percent of college
students who volunteer has increased from 27.1 percent
to 30.2 percent.
I have been and still am generally concerned about the shortcomings I feel my generation possesses in terms of eroding values, however, what I am about to address is something I find extremely promising and encouraging about my generation across the board in America. I know this flies in the face of the whole Generation X aka “Generation Me,” “iGeneration,” or “Entitlement Generation” theory as I was reading about today, but I’ve noticed when you look into the heart of my generation you do find a lot of young adults who not only recognize the need for change, but desire a better, more peaceful world politically, environmentally and socially and who aren’t content with merely sending checks, but are willing to get their hands dirty when they believe in a cause.
I can find laziness and discontent all over the place in youth when I look for it, but I have also found hope and promise in the most surprising places. I have seen my peers blossom by finding purpose in helping others, ditching high-powered careers for ones where they can impact more than the business world or the economy but give back in the areas of education, healthcare and non-profit. I have noticed and been inspired by individuals in my life who spent university breaks picking up after disasters like Hurricane Katrina or working at medical clinics in Uganda, friends teaching English overseas or taking a detour for a few months from a corporate career to help out orphaned kids in Ethiopia. I cannot tell you how many friends I have- well-educated, intelligent, capable individuals who have forgone high-paying corporate jobs to work for non-profits such as world relief organizations or Christian ministries where they make a pittance but make a difference, or friends who graduated from top-tier universities, with honors, only to become military officers or travel overseas to do missions or charity work afterward in order to give back. That is a VERY overlooked but poignant part of my generation.
Those in my generation do dream a lot, A LOT, but I also see them dreaming of a better world and in so many ways, making that happen. Despite all our shortcomings, I would dare to say we are the most ambitious, well-traveled, technologically well-connected generation so far and have in many ways been the most highly exposed to the rest of world around us, possibilities, failings and all.
As Jean Twenge, PhD., author of Generation Me explains about Generation X: “…they expect to go to college, to make lots of money, and perhaps even to be famous. Yet this generation enters a world in which college admissions are increasingly competitive, good jobs are hard to find and harder to keep, and basic necessities like housing and healthcare have skyrocketed in price. This is a time of soaring expectations and crushing realities.”
Despite tragedies like 9/11 or the London bombings, an increasingly competitive job market and economic hardship propelled by high housing prices and health care costs, in addition to the idea we are contributing to a social security system which threatens to run dry before we retire, I still see a resilience, optimism and resonating hope in the youth of today. I think that says a lot not only about our generation, but the parenting of our generation.
My greatest hope is that in setting the bar high for ourselves spiritually, morally, educationally, politically, professionally, physically and in every way, that my generation would be challenged to not only better the quality of our own lives, but the lives of others here in America and all over the globe.
