Thoughts while sitting on the fence of Generation X and Generation Me

So, I've been listening for the past few days about how college students these days are more narcissistic and essentially self centered - thus the "Generation Me" in the title. I was intrigued by this for several reasons, not because I felt it needed any defense from me (a so-called Cold War baby, Generation X-er, or member of the Boomerang Generation), but because I was relatively surprised that only now is it making any headlines. I've thought this for a long time, and anyone who thinks globally would more than likely assert that it was bound to happen as life is made easier for each generation as technology widens, cheapens, and becomes more accessible throughout the world.

But lately, I've been noticing how conservative I've become in terms of appearance, attitude, and language. And frankly, I've been saddened by the fact that young members of my church seem to continually neglect the counsel offered by church leaders regarding modest dress standards and behavior.

This has been difficult for me to look at because I know that I'm far from perfect. Far, far, far, far. It brought to mind a scripture, Matthew 7:1, which says, "Judge not, that ye not be judged." I hate judging people. I do it sometimes like everyone else, but really, I hate it because as you can only assume, I hate being judged. But, I was also reminded of the JS translation which says, "Now these are the words which Jesus taught his disciples that they should say unto the people. Judge not unrighteously, that ye be not judged: but judge righteous judgement."

I know that's not a golden ticket, but at least I feel better about having these concerns. I guess what I'm trying to say is that young LDS women dress immodestly and it bothers me. Young LDS men seem to use foul language more and more and it also bothers me. And more importantly, the way LDS youth treat each other is becoming increasingly disturbing to me.

One of the many social networking sites online is facebook.com. I'm sure I joined on a whim or at the request of a friend sometime ago and have since built my profile up to pretty much give a good snapshot of who I am. But, because I value my privacy at the same time, my profile is only viewable by my "friends" on the site, by my own choosing. I recently received a "friend request" from an old high school friend who was linked to another friend, who happened to be linked to another friend, and so on. Eventually, I landed on a profile of a young woman who had some very disturbing pictures of herself and friends - immodest and completely inappropriate. The sexual nature and innuendo of the pictures disturbed me even more so when I saw a picture of the girl with her friends at the temple. The fact that her somewhat lewd pictures were right next to a picture of the temple flat out angered me.

Needless to say, I am seriously considering cancelling my facebook account, because frankly, I don't want pictures of this nature to be seen by my eyes. Her profile was accessible to the public, which - if you've been up to date on all the sexual predator cases out there with MySpace - poses equal danger to her. Any member of the public can find her name, location, AIM chat name, cell phone number, etc. and in this era of the information age, it is probably that computer savvy stalkers can find out where she lives.

I'm just sad about this, I guess. We try so hard to make the world a better place, and yet, we make it worse with things like this.

Again, I'm not saying I'm perfect - and maybe I am on a small soapbox here - but I would have never thought to do such a thing when I was that age... and I only graduated from high school about eight years ago! But, I guess I'm changing. I have to be a grown up now - working, being a husband, and so on.

There's another stratum on top of all this that I'm not fully prepared to go into, and that is the prolification of the "Me and only me" attitude. I'm not saying that working to protect and provide for you and your family is wrong, but don't make people the doormats you walk on to achieve your success. I believe in individual liberty. I am fully aware that Ayn Rand said, "Man — every man — is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others." And that the individual "must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life." Whether I agree with all of that is another discussion.

But once in a while, I suggest forsaking yourself for someone else. The rewards are amazing.