Generation Why: A manifesto of sorts

Indeed, we're hipsters. Critical consumers. Concerned global citizens. Gadget freaks. Into wellness. Fast learners. Flexible workers. Each of us a little unit of subculture, capable of generating powerful trends with a few taps on the keyboard. And it gets even better, because we?re human beings too!

Why? Today's twentysomethings are a breed apart. We managed to clear the trap of post-modernism and seem to have moved to the next level of personal development. Bypassing the Achievement so sought after by our parents, we go directly for what is really important (to us): fulfillment. Whether it?s through a diet of Ritalin and videogames or dedicated idealism, fulfillment of our human needs is the focus of Generation Why.

We thrive on paradox, knowing that knowledge isn't power. You have to act on it. Action determines outcome. That's why we sometimes choose not to. It's our ability to learn and choose the right actions that will ultimately give us what we need and want.

How? Our personal styles are so intertwined with today's culture that it is hard to tell us apart at all. How does Generation Why manifest itself? Who are our role models other than David Lynch? Most portrayals of Generation Why are marketing-profiles intended to uncover our soft spots. But there is a genuine spirit waiting, a generation formed by the laws of communication. A massive age group, compared to which the generation of our older brothers and sisters is as modest as the cast of Douglas Coupland's novel Generation X.

The mediascape created to appeal to our needs mostly fails to affect our will. We've been brought up with a whole conspiracy of characters in place. The hippie-turned corporate, the corporate killer-gone-soft, ecological threat, hunger, terrorism, politics, spoonbending seminars.

What? That leaves only intentions. We have a lot of them and they're just a as big as our expectations. The power of peer pressure and proximate success have put our learning into a higher gear. We dedicate ourselves to realizing our dreams and claiming our own unique contribution to society. There is no failure, only feedback. The absolute worst that can happen is that you move back home.

We twentysomethings literally have the world at our feet. If only for a minute, we ease our restless minds, maybe reboot the hard drive behind our eyes and make those tough choices that we've been putting off. We can put ourselves at the cause of all the special effects we call life, and answer the question that we've been asking all our lives: Why?