St. Maximos' Hut

Slate has a marvelous column on the travails of being a young person today, what with the economy and all. Daniel Gross reviews a passle of whiny books by young people complaining about how tough they have it, and then asks "why are these books - Generation Debt in particular - annoying?"

It's not that the authors misdiagnose ills that affect our society. It's just that they lack the perspective to add any great insight. Writing in the New York Times this weekend, economics reporter David Leonhardt called Strapped, "a grim tale of one-sided generational warfare." Draut argues that "with the possible exception of having a larger array of entertainment and other goods to purchase, members of Generation X appear to be worse off by every measure" than prior generations. Huh? How about the Internet and Starbucks coffee and Lipitor and not having to worry so much about AIDS or crime or Mutual Assured Destruction or getting drafted into the Army and getting sent to Vietnam?

Maybe one place to get perspective would be from a spiritual life? Just a thought.