Occupy The Turkey…I Prefer Not To

     I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving; I know I did.  What did I do? I traveled “home” to New York and spent Thanksgiving with my father’s side of the family. I also took one of my childhood friends who has never been to the Empire State (we are still friends to this day by the way).  It was interesting to show off all of the places I’d grown up prior to moving down to western North Carolina.  While I was in my home state, I met up with my fourth grade teacher who retired after thirty years of service. I’m glad she is retiring, but New York State is losing a valuable teacher. She has inspired me to pursue teaching!  While there was no snow in New York during our brief stay, which was surprising as I remember it always having snow before Halloween, it did manage to rain.  It was still refreshing and it seemed like a mini-vacation.  Again, my good friend enjoyed New York State.
     Now, it would be unlike me to have a “normal” Thanksgiving without something regarding politics.  During my visit with my fourth grade teacher, I discussed politics.  It was really refreshing.  In fact, her son majored in Political Science!  I even talked to him more than my teacher because we were sharing our “war stories” (ha-ha). During the conversation, we had the topic of the “Occupy Wall Street” Movement present itself.  After roughly two hours of discussing this movement, I understand what they are trying to achieve and I can appreciate their efforts for change.  I’ll be honest, at first I was skeptical.  I mean, I thought it was full of hypocrisy.  I would love to go into detail about the movement itself, but I don’t want to be guilty of boring anyone.  All I will say is that I am in support of the “Occupy Wall Street” movement after talking to a supporter and understanding what they are trying to achieve.
     The more I think about it, and the more I discussed it with the friends I saw in New York, the more I see the “Occupy Wall Street” is my generation’s version of the 1960s and early 1970s.  To clarify, I do understand the difference between both generations; however, there are many similarities.  For example, both generations protested the government’s handling of situations within the country while trying to mitigate problems abroad.  Another one addresses the “fix the system, fix the problem” mindset of both generations.  The generation of the Vietnam fought against equality such as those that are “application-based” than those of my generation which are geared more towards “social-standing base”.  That is to say, the former generation fought for gender, ethic, and social rights, whereas my generation doesn’t care about such rights.  Let me rephrase that…we care about social rights, but because we grew up where we all knew someone who was gay, black, Jewish, (feel free to add in whatever label you feel is appropriate), we just don’t care as long as we are on the same financial-standing.  For my generation, we want the rules to apply to everyone and for everyone to be given the same opportunity.  While it is important to point out that capitalism is all about making more money and having a big house – or so goes the stereotype – it is also about helping those than cannot help themselves. This is, at least to my understanding, why my generation is so focused on the future of the society in which we grew up around.
     I guess my message, or rant (ha-ha), is getting lost in the writing.  My generation (late 1980s until late 1990s) wants to have an ideal society where everyone has the essentials to survive.  If they choose to pursue a better education and make more money, they should be able to do so; however, I think my generation does not want those that choose not to pursue higher goals set forth by others be taken advantage of by others.  Some would argue that that is capitalism in its truest form; I tend to believe that the human race is better than that…at least, I’d like to think so.  I really hope society is better than those that will look back on this current time and think “well, they did have good intentions and did help us advance to measures they’d never know,” and it will make our generation look like the best that has every existed.  Then again, every generation hopes to be better than the former ones.
     Okay, I guess I’m done on that note.  I will think of a better blog topic and make up for this randomness (ha-ha).  On a positive note, Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is right around the corner.  The only reason I know that, other than looking at a Calendar, is the Christmas music that continues to overpower all forms of communications.  Until then, enjoy your free time and drink a gingerbread latte…I know I will! By the way, I hope someone gets my reference in the title.