Wallace told Whiskey Island, a literary magazine, in 1993, “This is the generation
that has an inheritance of absolutely nothing as far as meaningful moral values.” The
generation of today is a different generation than many of us have known. Many people
these days just care about themselves and the good of them as individuals. It came up in
my class’s discussion about success and how we are supposed to strive towards success.
Granted this is true, there is a limit to how much we should be striving towards “success”
though. Success to many people is good job, good money, and good car. Success is not
measured by how much we obtain, but rather how we decide to use what has been given
to us. When people are too focused on success in today’s society, there are rarely moral
values because individuals are more focused on themselves versus what is important in
There are too many people in the world today just looking for free handouts and,
when you look at it that way, it really is all about them. Me, me, me is what our society
focuses on way too often; what is going to help ME, what is going to make ME more
money, what can I do to build ME up more, and you get the picture. As Williams put it in
his article “Is Gen Y Becoming the New ‘Lost Generation’,” “it is clear that Generation
Y has a very different set of values for work and life in general, compared to the Baby
Boomers.” He said in his article that a professor named Paul Harvey concluded that
Generation Y is characterized by “a very inflated sense of self” that leads to “unrealistic
expectations” and “chronic disappointment.” Williams concluded by saying that
“Generation Y has a significantly different attitude toward work and life in general than
the current dominant Baby Boom generation and the current ongoing difficult economic
times are placing the economic and social welfare of Generation Y in jeopardy.” This
quote brings into play some of our class discussions about Frankl and how making a
choice about your attitude is very important. The way you choose to react to certain
situations and life circumstances matter in life. When difficult circumstances happen, you
can choose to react to them negatively or you can choose to find a positive in the
situation.
Next, consider jobs in today’s society. We see many people who are working their
way up the ladder, so that they can become something and live a fulfilled life. Then, you
see others who are sitting at home on employment getting paid from the government. I do
