My mother-in-law recently shared with me this artilce by Peggy Noonan called There’s No Pill For This Kind of Depression. She believes it sums up the feeling of people her age with regards to our current economic state in America and asked me to reflect on the article a bit and speak for my generation on whether or not this article resonates with us as well.

After some thought, I rambled a bit (you know me!) and then decided to share with you all as well since it’s already in the forefront of my mind.

While I can’t speak for all 20-somethings, I think I’ve got a handle on how many, or even most, folks my age are “adjusting” to the crash of Wall Street, of varying degrees I’m sure. I’d love to hear your thoughts too — all ages welcome to chime in!

I think that what people my age are feeling is almost the opposite of what people your age are feeling.

This part of the article struck me: “We are worried, he said, ‘about a way of life, about the loss of upward trajectory.’” You see, we had not yet the opportunity to grasp at the “upward trajectory” you had. We didn’t have jobs for 25 years, savings accounts and investments. We were used to being “poor”, and had little desire for a bigger home, or even to own a home at all. We didn’t have much to lose: no wills or life insurance or car payments or mortgages- most people in their twenties don’t even know what exactly is the difference between a CD or a Roth IRA, lol. They never had enough money to utilize America’s prosperous years anyway!

Most of the people I know had already assumed that the values of the last 10-20 years of American prosperity were overrated and on their way out. It didn’t take the economic decline to tell us this. We could see our older generations clinging to their American Dream and we weren’t sure we wanted that.

This is in many ways what I have been studying for several years – this postmodern, millennial generation that tends towards a kind of intangible life where meaning and mystical experiences replace the security of their trust fund. For example, young Christians didn’t want large mega churches void of religious symbolism, or as some coin them “seeker friendly”- but the older generations really, really thought these “campus-model” churches were THE answer for attracting youth. After all, they had grown accustom to affluence and wanted ever more of it – why wouldn’t we follow suit?

Instead, we flocked to small, intimate places of worship where we sensed something sacred – and there were major growths towards religions which are known for simplistic living, such as Buddhism and monastic communities. This all PRIOR to the “great crash”. The great crash, then, had less effect on us. Basically, all it means is that it’s harder to find jobs, and those of us with credit card debt are learning a hard lesson, that’s for sure. But we still have hopes for America, ideals that span beyond being the strongest empire of the West. (We are secretly HAPPY that the foundation of affluence has been shaken. Now you’re all in the same boat as us! LOL)

Another example: I keep seeing on the news this feature story that the older generations are wondering how to keep up the “green” trend as cost of such products don’t fit the paychecks of the economic recession. We keep hearing reports that families of, say, 35-55 year old adults who are eating more fast food and cheap, mass-produced ingredients. But I look around and those of us in our 20’s are doing just the opposite. And we aren’t buying Seventh Generation All-Purpose Cleaner and eco-diapers either – we’re doing what our grandparents did and returning to traditional, gentle cleaners like baking soda, or simple, healthy meals from local sources, or cloth diapers. We don’t want to buy cheaper shoes or cook wear that we’ll have to replace each year, we’d rather buy wooden toys or USA made high quality shoes, or cast iron skillets – things that we can rely on for 25 years! We’re apt to learn to sew up the holes in our socks rather than perpetuate our previously wasteful attitude about possessions. Again, the economic “crash” of Wall-street is far removed from us- if anything it only proved our thoughts of scaling BACK were right on!

The depression, if any, that we suffer is very short term. It’s easier to let go of that (false) vision of unending prosperity when you haven’t had it — or have only had it for a short time. Most folks in their 20’s, young families like mine, can come away rather unscathed- and not the least bit surprised!

And we don’t want Obama to come in and take us back the Clinton era. (God, that would be awful!) We want to work on the long-haul, deeper issues of America and create a country that is balanced and sustainable for the long run – so our children can grow up in a place where people care about each other and the land flourishes, where people are idealistic and educated at the same time, so they can lead the nation into a future that doesn’t look like the 30’s — but doesn’t look like the 90’s either!