AARP Lost Generation
By Saintless. Filed in politics |
AARP has caught my eye recently with their “Divided We Fail” campaign. If you missed that, it’s worth checking out. They caught my eye again with their “U@50″ contest.
”The aim of this contest was to create a dialogue between the generations and to gain an understanding of what concerns our future members,” said AARP Director of Academic Affairs Harry R. Moody. “We have been impressed with the enthusiasm young people have had for this contest. These videos have done a great job of highlighting the issues that are important to younger Americans in facing their futures.”
This video came in second place, and it’s absolutely beautiful:
You can see all of the winners and the submissions on YouTube.
I think that we need more understanding between groups that seemingly have little common ground. And I’m the first to say I’ve really failed at that, lately. When I see people using religion or power to take away the rights of other people, I get angry. When I see people using presidential power to justify torture, I get angry. When I see stupidity, I get angry. A lot of things just really make me angry.
I recognize that I’ll never get anywhere with those of opposing viewpoints by giving into anger. The point isn’t always to get anywhere, though. The point is sometimes just to bring it up, make people aware. So, sometimes I feel fully justified in that anger.
But, a goal I recently decided on was to react less in anger when it comes to politics. Not that I won’t react that way (and I do plan on continuing the asshat awards), but there are times that restraint is called for. Hopefully, fewer of my blog posts, and fewer of my comments on others’ blogs will show much of the anger I feel inside. Perhaps I should watch the above video more often. And we should all look for common ground. It’s all about the accentuation and order of the words, right?