The Lost Generation

Next month will mark the 51st Anniversary of Jack Kerouac's On The Road. On The Road marks such a signifigant American right of passage, the journey, the road trip, the lustful addiction to wandering. But the journey represents so much more than the mere trip to explore the country and along the way loosing part of yourself as you discover a new you, blah blah blah. It's about having the heart and balls in the first place to just pick up and leave, to really be ready and able to go forward without looking back, devoted and, oh, so loyal to the curiosity, lost doesnt even exist because you have no plans, no set destination, falling in love with the thrill and spontaneity of ending up where you end up. Where has the bravery and love gone? It seems like my generation is broken down on an abandoned highway. Besides the ridiculous notion of the "road trip" between college semesters, the journey along with everything that went along with it have been lost. My generation seems to care more about SAT scores, the name of the college you went to, having a job, being finiacially secure, safe, finding the right girlfriend/boyfriend, getting married, buying a condo, having two kids in a good school.....ugh. I never thought I would say this, but the spirit of my parents generation, the real On The Road guts, the heart and passion and commitment to a life that was everyday, not just let loose on the weekends, shit, man, they had it. They invented the protest, the stood up for what they believed in, they lived, they felt, fought, loved and cried, they didn't give a fuck what happened tomorrow because today was happening right now! Why is my generation too afraid to speak up, fight back, to live and love? Their whole lives have been planned out in some excel spread sheet and they start to sweat when in year 26 the chart says they are supposed to figure out what they what to do with their life, but, red alert red alert, they have no clue. The fact that Bush was even re-elected and everyone just rolls their eyes and talks about the ignornance and long term effects of his mistakes, what we have allowed this government to get away with, and no one does anything, no one is committed to actually making change makes me sick. You think waiting till next election is enough, to choose some canidate who is going to cowardly and strategicaly try to appeal to both the liberals in New York and California and the Evangelicals and those who believe in homeland security that rule those red states. Oh you mean the canidate who is smiling his or her way into the cockpit of the next departing kamikazee plane. Yes, the modern day protest is a police escorted and controlled flag waiving cliche screaming fiesta in which afterwards you can have a drink with your buddies and fake a sense of rebellious accomplishment, but that all changes when you walk into the office Monday morning. Is my generation ultimately content with trading in a life of emptiness and rules, with no real idea who they even are, no idea what it means to fight for something, to chase a dream, to even have a dream, to really feel and understand life's experiences for money, a car with leather interrior, the new fall season must have hand bag, to sit around on the weekend and drink light beer and talk about sports and politics and whatever other shit one can read in the newspaper because you dont have any of your own experiences or ideas to share, to wake up everyday and want to kill yourself on your way to work and come home every night and talk about nothing over diner as your third glass of wine begins to numb everything and perhaps even once a week you will get to fuck the same boring beautiful blond woman you thought you loved in the same four positions, over and over, until you just wish it was....DONE. Where has my generation drifted off to? Has the iphone, the new exclusive dunks, the new retro prohibition era themed bar with $15 drinks, myspace, the job your lifestyle and bank love but your soul despises killed us? Lets wake the fuck up, lets feel and live and act on impulse, do not think, think not repeat, lets move forward and make changes for us, lets get back on the road, lets believe in hope and change and do this together.

Jesus.

Well, folks, on that note I will be on the road for the next month or so and I will be taking a break from the blog. With internet access will come a post or two I suppose. All these blogs lately seem to be a lot of recycled shit, people copying each other, everyone talking about the same shit, doing things one way. Turn off the computer, stop reading the blogs for a minute (its making you stupid) and read a book, live your life, go to the bar and get a drink, start a fight, go pick up some chicks, flirt with some guys, take the train to a part of town you have never been before, stay up all night, try some new drugs, put down the camera and pick up a paint brush or write a story, have some fun and then report back in Sept. with some good stories.