Listen now I’m talking
I’ve been here for weeks
Waiting in this growing crowd
Staring at my feetThe world around me’s turning
I’m just standing still
The time has come for changes
Do something or I willCrowd Control — Anastasio/Marshall
Maureen Dowd looks at all that’s broken in America’s culture, economics, and politics, and still finds the reason why this pediatrician remains optimistic that our children will tackle the fine mess my generation has made by finding opportunities instead of fear in the challenges we face:
Young people are more optimistic than their rueful elders, especially those in the technology world. They are the anti-Cheneys, competitive but not triumphalist. They think of themselves as global citizens, not interested in exalting America above all other countries.
“The 23-year-olds I work with are a little over the conversation about how we were the superpower brought low,” said Ben Smith, the editor in chief of Buzzfeed. “They think that’s an ‘older person conversation.’ They’re more interested in this moment of crazy opportunity, with the massive economic and cultural transformation driven by Silicon Valley. And kids feel capable of seizing it. Technology isn’t a section in the newspaper any more. It’s the culture.”
Where there’s youth, there’s restlessness. And with their restlessness lies hope for better days ahead:
It’s crowded in the lowland
But the fools stay on the hill
You control us now
You have the reins
Do something or we will
(Crowd Control — by Trey Anastasio and Tom Marshall)