In an odd way, this could be at the heart of the "troubles" we are having now...and have been having for at least a generation.
Every job we apply for (for a very long time) has a section on the application that asks us what our goals are.. 5 years down the line.. "What do you see yourself doing in 5 (10-15) years from now..what are your professional goals?..
College applications ask us to "tell us about yourself..what are your personal goals?..What do your see yourself doing in 10 years?"
The child cannot wait to become a teenager
The young teen cannot wait to turn 16, so they can drive
The 17 year old cannot wait to become "legal" at 18
The 20 yr old cannot wait to become 21
We can barely wait until we get a chance to "be on our own".. to buy a home, to get married, to fall in love, to get that great job, to have a child, etc.
Our society evolved as a "forward-looking" society, so it's not unreasonable for most of us to live this way. We have portrayed ourselves as a hopeful society..always on the verge of the "next big/better thing"..so why NOT be goal oriented?
We spend most of our today, thinking about how great our tomorrow will be, while we block out the "bad-stuff" from our yesterday, instead of learning from it.
Perhaps each generation thinks it has found the perfect way to live, and chooses to ignore the warnings of people who have "been there before"..and perhaps we always think that new technology will always swoop in to save the day.
What separates us from many third-world societies , is that we have the luxury of being secure enough in the today, to even plan for tomorrow. We can take time to focus on where we want to be in 5 years or 10 years , but they spend most of their lives planning on where they can find enough water or food for one day. They have few "goals" that are reachable by them. Their goals are mainly dreams or even fantasies.
And now we are where we are.. Our goals we planned on reaching, have turned out to be pretty unreachable for many (most?) of us. Will our children see the futility of planning?
Could the anger( real or trumped up) be from the mass-realization that we have all been had?
Could the masses be awakening again , to the fact that a few clever people at the top are holding aces in the High Roller Room, and we are at the penny-slots..afraid to even play "max-bet"?
The goal of retiring "well-off", morphed from defined pensions, to the Wall Street Casino version of Wheel of Fortune.
The goal of getting a good education, morphed into leaving school with a staggering amount of debt, and into a job-market that only values paying as little as possible for as much work as possible.
The goal of paying off a house, morphed into paying taxes & insurance based on "high value" homes, that are worth less than is owed on them..and that sit empty for months (years?) after the would-be owners throw in the towel and leave.
Even the "small" goals are leaving.
How many people had a goal of just enjoying free time with the grandkids? or spending time puttering around with a hobby? For many older people, there will be no puttering or hanging out with grandkids. There will be a series of low-paid, part time jobs, because without them, there will not be enough money to pay the bills.
Goals set, require a stable enough "now", so the plans for the goals can be met
I think people are realizing that the focus they thought they had on their personal & professional goals, is fuzzy at best, if not totally gone.
Their focus is on survival, and any goals they may have had, are looking a lot more like dreams these days.
Is it any wonder why so many people are angry, upset, bewildered, confused, despondent, <any number of other feelings here>?
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