Self-sufficiency: A dead idea?

Somehow, self-sufficiency as a term, lifestyle, thought process, and concept has died. In my experience, self-sufficiency breeds confidence, which feeds and strengthens the self-sufficient mindset. When exactly did this idea die?

While it is easy to assign generational blame (The Boomers! It's all THEIR fault! The Xers! They're the ones! No, no! The Millennials! Yes, yes, THEY'RE the ones who dropped the ball...) to our faltering society, I prefer to consider overall attitudes and approaches to our collective problems. A fellow blogger in this vast digital space posted a rather incendiary rant about how us Gen Xers were able to cope with all sorts of social and economic difficulties and somehow survive - so what's wrong with these darned kids today?!

Part of me deeply agrees with the sentiments expressed in that blog post. Far from being nihilistic, narcissistic, or self-aggrandizing, my generation tends to be filled with hard-working, entrepreneurial, and self-sufficient people who just want to do for themselves and their families and communities and be left alone. It's actually very Libertarian of us as a generation, but without the crazy stump speeches.

Here's where the generational blame can trickle in - people who are now in their late teens and early 20s (Post-Millennials) tend to despair of their potential futures and often retreat into that despair (and inaction) instead of thinking their way around this massive obstacle. Which obstacle would that be? I don't know, pick one. Massive social and financial inequality (class warfare, anyone?). Disparity in educational opportunity and access. A government that doesn't really seem to see its own people, much less care about its people's welfare (in the sense of happiness, well-being, and prosperity as opposed to the "hand-up"/"hand-out" government-run system of assistance for those at or below the brink of poverty). Less jobs in the areas we've come to expect to see lots of jobs. Inconclusive and unfinished wars that the U.S. is perpetually and infuriatingly involved with. The persistent destruction of natural habitats and species worldwide (for us tree-hugger types).

I could go on. But here's where I pause and hesitate to step across the line into accusation...

How are these circumstances fundamentally and materially different from the world in which I grew up as a Gen Xer? Aside from degrees of severity in each situation, I don't see how things are all that different. And this strengthens my resolve to push creativity and the intellectual flexibility that accompanies it as the solution to all of this hand-wringing despair and what some would call reactionary movements that have yet to achieve any real action or change (I did say YET).

How do creativity and self-sufficiency then connect? Easy. Those who have a self-sufficient mindset - who are not made to feel dependent on others for their thoughts and actions - who not only believe they are capable of figuring anything out, but who KNOW through practice, that all problems have multiple solutions - who want to materially provide for themselves come what may - those are the people who will naturally use their creative thinking abilities to, as Tim Gunn might say, "Make it work." How many Gen-Xers grew up with this mindset approved and encouraged by their parents, families, and schools? I would suggest most. How many kids today grow up with this mindset approved and encouraged at home and at school? I would venture very unscientifically into...well, not many (based on what I see my students thinking and struggling with).

To criticize people today, regardless of their generational label, for lacking self-sufficiency seems a horrible crime. How dare you suggest that people can make their own ways?! Do anything for themselves?! Have you SEEN how difficult things are?!

Yes, I have seen how difficult things are. I know the numbers of people out of work. I feel bad that a vast portion of our populace has neither the access nor the opportunities that I and many of my cohort had. However, to wallow in despair (as some of my students do) and lament that all is lost, no future is to be found because our economy is done for...is to miss an opportunity. What happened to thinking your way around a problem? The brilliant people who speak at TED do it all the time in the face of impossible odds. They figure it out. They make it work. They work hard to make their ideas come to fruition.

This is the message and the lesson we should be passing on to the younger generations. No one should be filling young heads with despair and doom. We should be encouraging them to think differently about their futures, to generate new ideas and businesses that will respond to and fulfill a need in this NEW reality.

We can't change the sins of the past. But we can change how the younger generation considers their present and future worlds by encouraging them to be more self-sufficient and think their way around these seemingly impenetrable problems. We CAN develop new programs and businesses and career paths that will work in this new economy. We SHOULD work together to vote people into office who will make better decisions. We MUST encourage a self-sufficient mindset so that the upcoming generations don't lose faith before they even have a chance to begin.

If self-sufficiency is a dead idea, then we may be dooming ourselves to a future without innovation, without creativity, and without any ability to see our way past difficult situations. What a terrible legacy to leave behind. We, as Gen Xers, should take up this challenge and find a young person to speak to about being self-sufficient. Individual actions can change the world, after all.