We all begin our search for identity when we are approximately 2 years old. At about 45 years of age we stop that process and begin act upon the world as if our identity is fully formed; as if we are comfortable in our own skin - or put another way - as though we don't care what others think of us.
This last way of putting it is tricky - when said to another adult, they get it; but when said to young adults this way of putting it can create a false impression of the intended meaning.
It means that we are at peace with who we are - and can back it up with words and ideas. In my case for example, I know I'm a good person: I don't steal from people; I don't hurt people on purpose - and when I make mistakes I admit it to myself and to those who may have been effected by my error. And so on.
In this era of rapidly changing communications technology - and a rapidly changing democratic form of governance to one representing more and more the interests of a monopoly capitalist elite --- right now in the early stages of a change from a limited capitalist democracy (marked by an incessant and powerful pressure from a class-based private interest organized together organically by their common interest), to a system where the vestigial remnants of the institutions of democratic functioning take the place of actual democratic functioning - if fact a plutocracy --- reflections of ourselves from mass media have gone from nuclear war based fear (the Cold War) lies - to empire lies, imperialist lies, continuous war lies.
At the same time as this morphing from republic to empire is happening - how we get our news has shifted from one-flavour-for-all broadcast 11 O'clock News, to real time sharing of news (items often produced by those experiencing a newsworthy event) using ubiquitous world wide web connected devices we carry around with us every waking hour.
So the Millennials (young adults born after 1980 - coming of age at the turn of the century) are stuck between a rock and a hard place. As they strive through the process of creating identity they are all alone (although the 60's generation was aware of the coming change and attempted to stop it) no other generation in living memory has experience this kind of dynamic change.
They'll have to (and are) make it up as they go along.
One example of this is a series of short documentary videos taken by a couple who decided to end the lease on their apartment, sell everything they owned, and head out on the road in a van out-fitted for travel - on an Odyssey in which they would try to create a life without consumerism, without the rat race of large city grind; and work to build a sustainable lifestyle, rather than creating a lifestyle of work. ...
I give you, the 127 part video series, Shelby and Simon's first North American tour, "The Van Life".
Shelby and Simon - The Van Life (the trip: episode 1 to 127)
Aside from the unsustainable Eating Out too much (way too much) - and all the gas guzzling driving - these two are very cool (as they might put it). Thumbs up for a great big try.
Next Odyssey might be to go camp cook style, on bicycles.
Shelby and Simon Youtube Channel (playlists): https://www.youtube.com/user/shelbyandsimon/playlists
Channel Description
We're Shelby and Simon and our Youtube channel is mostly about our adventures living in a 1992 Dodge Ram camper van with our black lab Champ. We're two Canadian photographers taking the long road and trying to figure it all out.
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