I received an email this week that I wanted to share titled “The Lost Generation”. It is written in the form of a palindrome. I looked the email up on the internet and this is the information I found about the palindrome and the author: The author is a 20-something native of Atlanta and a student at Columbia College in Chicago. He wrote the palindrome about himself and his peers; the so-called Lost Generation.
With all the challenges facing us as individual Americans and as a nation as a whole, it is easy to understand our eagerness to look to the past and remember with a sense of nostalgia “The good old days”.
I do believe that we as Americans and as a nation are at a crossroad. The decisions that will be made during our lifetime may set a new foundation for our nation.
The conundrum facing us is “Whose voice do we listen to?”
It seems to me that the voices and beliefs of those who we used to think were in the minority now seem to be in the majority like those people who want to remove references of God from our coins and currency. A poll was done in the past asking if references to God should be removed from our money. In 2003 a Gallup poll found that 90 percent of Americans surveyed were in favor of the inscription “in God We Trust” on U.S. Coins and currency. In addition to the 8 percent who said they opposed it, 2 percent said they didn’t know.
“Well,” I say, “so much for the loudest voice being the majority voice!”
The palindrome in the text box is yet another voice – a voice of the so-called Lost Generation. Take the time to read it and then ask yourself, “Do I find these beliefs depressing?”
Read it again …this time start at the bottom and read it up, line by line. Then ask yourself, “Do I find these beliefs depressing?”
I’m not sure where our nation is going, but I do think we should leave “In God We Trust” on our coins and currency and then do it!
The Lost Generation
by Jonathan Reed
I am part of the lost generation.
And I refuse to believe that
I can change the world.
I realize this may be a shock, but
“Happiness comes from within”
Is a lie, and
“Money will make me happy”.
So in thirty years, I will tell my children
They are not the most important thing in my life.
My employer will know that
I have my priorities straight because
Work
Is more important than
Family
I tell you this:
Once upon a time
Families stayed together
But this will not be true in my era.
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
Thirty years from now, I will be celebrating the tenth anniversary of my divorce.
I do not concede that
I will live in a country of my own making.
In the future,
Environmental destruction will be the norm.
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about this Earth.
It will be evident that
My generation is apathetic and lethargic.
It is foolish to presume that
There is hope.
And all of this will come true unless we reverse it.
