Before I'm accused of launching into a wild-eyed bleeding heart liberal rant, let me say that I don't actually believe cynicism is ending or it should end. A healthy cynicism is good for most everything as it keeps us asking questions - and thus, hopefully, finding answers.
What I mean is that I feel like our generation (near the end of Gen X - our Trainspotting posters, Flannel T-shirt photos and ability to imitate Eddie Vedder singing give us away) and the one before us have grown tired of the idea that there's nothing we can do to change things for the better. Volunteerism among our age groups is up, involvement in political campaigns is increased, and commitment to social causes through the web is expanding in an exponential fashion.
I don't know if it's from growing up in the rampantly materialistic decades of the 80s and 90s or the realization that it can all be gone in a second from this decade after 9/11, but there is a feeling in the air that we have to change things...and that we can, with or without the help of governments and corporations.
John Donne wrote that no man is an island in 1623. No one said we're fast learners, but maybe we're finally figuring things out.
-K
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