I have a lot of hope for the future of our planet…at least the little corner of it that I have inhabited for the past several days. I am at the end of my last full day in New Orleans, where I’ve alternated between optimism and skeptical pessimism, between frustrated despair and tentative hopefulness. But this evening I am feeling optimistic largely because I’ve spent a few hours with two separate groups of young people.
First, I connected with some young graduate students: Cobretti (who wanted me to be sure to give him a shout out in this blog) and Victoria–both of whom are in graduate school in Seattle with my daughter. The intensity of their passions for making higher education better, more accessible to all different kinds of students as well as accountable for becoming the types of institutions that serve all people was very refreshing, particularly for older folks like me who’ve worked in higher education for decades and have lost a bit (perhaps quite a bit) of that enthusiastic idealism. Watching and listening to them, responding to their questions, hearing their plans and hopes for their futures in higher education gave me great hope that they will indeed make a difference in the world.
Then this afternoon I spent several hours with my niece Lauren and her two friends Lindsey and Margia. The three of them had come to New Orleans for a friend’s wedding this weekend and had been hanging out in the city. I wasn’t at all certain I was up to hanging out and “window shopping” with three energetic young thirty-somethings…after all, for the past couple of days I have been a cranky old fifty-something. Nonetheless I decided not to be a total stick-in-the-mud, and I walked the half mile or so up to their hotel. As a fairly non-intrepid, introvert, I was impressed with myself as I trekked up there and met Lauren and her two friends, setting off via trolley car to the garden district where supposedly there were fabulous houses to look at and shopping to be had.
It turned out to be quite refreshing and fun spending time with these young women. Despite the fact that it was hot and humid and we got caught in a brief deluge (from which it took me hours to dry out) we had a wonderful time. The nature and quality of conversation was different with these young people than it had been with my daughter’s graduate school friends. These women were all young lawyers in the very early stages of their careers. Their idealism had been somewhat tempered compared with Cobretti’s and Victoria’s, more real-world life and experiences. But what impressed me about all of these younger folks was their level of awareness and depth of understanding of some of the social justice issues that plague contemporary society. When I was their age there was much, much less awareness of inequity, of racism and other “isms,” and of general concepts of equity, fairness, cultural fluency, etc. These were things that mostly only those of us working in these areas “back in the day” were aware of. These days, these concepts are much more widely known in circles of younger folks–the twenty- and thirty-somethings I’ve spent time with over the past few days.
I am not so naive to believe that a vast majority of young folks are “culturally competent;” there are still way too many people–young and old–who are unaware of their own privilege and the unearned advantages they have over other people. But I find that I am much more hopeful today than I have been in a little while. Now I think I can begin to turn over this work and the tools of my trade to this up-and-coming generation and know that I am leaving it in good hands. While I’m not quite ready to turn things completely over to them just yet, I do feel good that the next generation is getting ready to take on the work of providing equitable access to some of the basic things we can all too easily take for granted. I am grateful and proud to know some really terrific young folks!
