broken social scene?

Yesterday's post has been enthusiastically received by all one of my overseas reader, for which I am grateful. There were a few jumping-off points in that piece for subsequent expansion and, while driving to work this morning, I thought of a few to use tonight. Regrettably, the passing parade of the day has immersed those brilliant thoughts in a miasma of fog, so...

Note to self: need to install a voice-activated note-taker in the car so random brilliance is not lost. Or do some memory exercises.

But first, another coincidence. I was in someone's office today, busily planning the future - ha! - when I noticed Hugh Mackay's Turning Point on his bookshelf. A couple of copies, in fact, which struck me as I had mentioned Mackay's Generations only yesterday. So I snaffled a copy which I will read with interest. However, even the first few pages seem to indicate that by the time he wrote this, Mackay was turning his social research into the social democratic ('lefty') polemic that we see fairly often in his contemporary writing. Nonetheless, I'll be keen to see how he works through the arguments. Interestingly, in searching fruitlessly for a book review or similar page I could link to, I found dozens of references to the book in sermons and papers by religious leaders. Hmmmmm...

Also by sort of coincidence, I had early morning coffee today with one of the former mentorees I referred to yesterday. Said person complained - no, maybe boasted - of a raging hangover although my diagnosis, delivered after 10 minutes of having my ear bent, was still pissed. Not to worry, I guess one of the joys of being Gen X is being able to sustain a hangover midweek.

Said person had also come to a decision about the next couple of years: going travelling. This, after I had spent some time providing comments on said person's CV to help in getting the next job. Well, such a job may well be overseas and in all of this activity we see 'typical' Gen X priorities: travel, flexibility, the job isn't everything, and not so concerned about security as some baby boomers, at least.

I found as a manager that the propensity to travel did cause a few headaches, in that at all times there was at least one team member on a six month trip somewhere. Once you got used to it, the problem became a bit more manageable in that you can start to plan for it, eg by distribution of projects to fit with who might conceivably be around for the projected duration/delivery date.

The level of comfort with uncertainty is probably the trait that I personally find hardest to understand, as I have been very security-conscious for as long as I can remember. More to the point, I'm not sure what drove this preference: maybe father's stories of the Depression, maybe that when I was growing up, everybody's parents were in stable jobs. It was just the way things were.

Interestingly, offspring numbers 1 and 2 are quite different in this regard - one a voracious traveller, one a bit more stay-at-home. And I imagine these different preferences are distributed throughout the population although in Gen X cases the travellers are in the majority. Implications for policy? Well, it fits well with flexible workplaces - increased casualisation, part time work and so on. Reduced demand to purchase housing, because they would rather rent? Well, housing affordability is decreasing, but what is the cause and what is the effect might be open to debate, I reckon. After all, if you know you won't be able to buy, if you know (based on experience and data over your lifetime) that share investments will return you more, why not rent, invest and travel?

What would a scenario be that took this trend and extrapolated it? Less investment in housing, or fewer people bearing more of the cost and the return? What if declining oil reserves pushes up the price to the extent that - as I read somewhere yesterday - air travel again becomes the preserve of the rich?

Probably the single greatest thing driving us as parents is that we leave our children a better life and perhaps even a better world. I read that this will be the first generation where this will not be the case. But we all face the same problem in trying to understand different values. What if the life/world we leave is just different - maybe not as good as we would like, but not a problem for those who inherit it?

Baby boomer dilemma. Poor us - always focused on our own needs and values. Somehow, I don't think so.