Human Action: Ambition, Ability and Achievement

Human Action
Ambition, Ability and Achievement
Finding and Using the Passion Inside

These pages contain the complete text of Human Action, public speaking trainer Elliot Essman's philosophy of human achievement.

Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Human Action Table of Contents
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2. Generations

Americans began by loving youth and now, out of self-pity, they worship it. (Jacques Barzun, 1959)

We've just hinted that it is a waste of time being a rebel. Rebellion against a fixed reference matrix is itself often just as fixed a reference matrix. But generations do differ. They form movements and undergo conflicts. Youth and age rarely confer with each other. This is a pity, since everyone involved is human.

Yes, as you've figured out by simple mathematics from the previous draft lottery anecdote, I am a “baby boomer.” My generation is supposed to carry their privileged “me first” values all the way from kindergarten to the grave. Of course, this is unfair. We are not prisoners of our dates of birth. At least the best of us are not. Some of us used the fruits of plenty to become indulgent and self-centered. Many of us used the fruits of plenty to break through human barriers and improve ourselves and our fellow humans. Ultimately, we are individuals, not statistics.

Recently there has been a lot of talk about “Generation X,” those “twenty-somethings” who in the 1990's seem to have nowhere to go. Again the journalists are having a field day. Once the stereotype is created, lesser minds among the generation begin to conform to it. Every generation has its conformists. Every generation has its individualists. And every generation has its core of brave human beings who just want to live as best as they can.

Some of my generation felt the need to rebel against their parents who had lived through the Great Depression and World War Two. Some are still at it in a world that has changed significantly. They lumped their parents' generation into one confining box, then confined themselves in the angry box of rebellion and “causes.” If their parents were inflexible, they are stone.

Exercise: Freeing Yourself From Your Generation

Ask yourself this: have you freed yourself yet from your generation?

Probe into life decisions you've made in the past. Have these decisions been entirely free, or have you been influenced by others in your generation?

Have you been influenced to actions in line with your supposed generation as a result of a magazine article you read or a television show you watched?

Have you ever caught yourself in conflict with your parents (even if it is a silent, imagined argument in your mind) and felt it was a generational conflict rather than an individual one?

An excellent Shock to open up your generational consciousness should be obvious: actual contact with other generations. One of the reasons I liked being involved in my Toastmasters club when I joined many years ago is that it covered a wide span of generations and involved them in common activities. At dinner once after a meeting, I calculated we had people present in their twenties, thirties, forties, sixties and eighties. You felt a great sense of human continuity.

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Human Action Table of Contents
Elliot Essman Public Speaking Training
Elliot Essman's Life In The USA
Elliot Essman's Food Writing
Susie Essman's Comedy and Sitcoms
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