Summer Dreams...

For at least several generations (including mine), the American Dream was characterized by a vertical climb accompanied by the accumulation of bigger and better stuff.  However, most experienced rock climbers take only what they need and lighten their load as they go.  So, it has always seemed to me that the wise principles of climbing are essentially in disagreement with the goals of the former American Dream.

I say ‘former’ because a new American dream is emerging.  A recent NPR story cites national pollster John Zogsby who, in his book The Way We’ll Be: The Zogby Report on the Transformation of the American Dream, discusses a generation he calls the “first Globals.”  Instead of loading themselves down with stuff over decades and laying down deep, permanent roots, these young adults are motivated to collect diverse life experiences.  They are living, studying, or working abroad, and are far less interested in following the traditions of previous generations.  To be less anchored, they rent places to live rather than purchase homes.  They choose possessions that facilitate movement rather than immobility. 

Zogby writes, “Two out of three of them have passports. They are well traveled; technologically they have networks that include people all over the world. They have a desire to be nimble, to go anywhere and to be anywhere. They also have a desire to change their world and feel like they’re in a position to do that.”  They have moved from the fixation of the previous American Dream on possessing more and better stuff to a passion for experiencing people and the world through a global lens.  In this way, the possessive idea of “my stuff” evolves into the global reality of “our stuff.”  Interconnectedness and sharing replace individualism and personal accumulation as the mechanisms through which this generation understands their place and purpose in life. 

As a result, Globals care little about how much they own.  Aspects of life requiring a sense of permanence are eschewed (i.e., 30-year mortgages at a permanent address or a decades-long career with the same employer) in favor of the ability to pick up at a moment’s notice and relocate or refocus their lives.  Globals are more concerned about how much they can give to the world than about how much they can take from it.  They have the audacity to believe global change can begin with the act of a single person.  In fact, they understand global change always begins this way.

One aspect of physics that fascinates me is chaos theory.  Globals embody the key principle of Edward Lorenz’s ‘butterfly theory’ -- the flutter of a butterfly’s wings can set the initial condition for change through which the course of global weather is altered forever.  So it is with Globals – they are setting an initial condition for change through which the human pattern of behavior is altered forever. Globals believe they produce a ripple effect of global proportions. This is good stuff. 

So, my hat’s off to this new generation that is daring to redefine the American Dream.  I like their direction and courage. There is hope for America’s future after all.  Dream on!