My thoughts today are on the number of young adults we've been talking to recently. People who are full of creativity, passion, many of them struggling, but optimistic. Over the weekend, while dining out after a presentation about Lagom Landing, Rock and I met Ruben (not his real name), a 23-year-old who spent one year at Nazareth College, and did some other college work in the area of Music Therapy. He dropped out after a year or so, saying that it was hard to be motivated when he knew how tough it would be to get a job out of college, given the state's fiscal cutbacks in education, where music and art programs are often the first to go.
Ruben's face lit up when we asked him his dream "to start a hippy commune in CO!" In a small world experience, he shared that he had lived in my hometown of Longmont, CO for a few months, and wants to go back. Based on his dream, we talked about the growing need, on an environmental but also economic level, to share resources/come together with neighbors. For example, one family might be able to provide washer/dryer, while another could pitch in a lawnmower. Another family might have garden tools and space for a garden.
Ruben's dream makes sense. We continue to find a great amount of energy in the twenty-something generation to conserve and share. Despite his day-to-day, paycheck-to-paycheck situation struggling to pay the rent on a restaurant server's salary, Ruben was optimistic, pleasant, and fun to talk to.
Which reminded us also of Dan (also not his real name), a Marine we met this summer who's recently gone off active duty after serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently, Japan. Dan has been offered work as an armed agent for Brinks--a money-delivery service for banks and businesses. He turned down the generous offer, saying he wants to do something his heart is behind. He talked about the number of returned military personnel he knows who take a long time to figure out what they want to do after getting off active duty. He wants to hold out and find something that he can be passionate about. Having saved up a good deal of money from his time in the service, he struggles with substance abuse and laziness, and wants to contribute to society. He just doesn't know how to do it.
Young adults get a bad rap. It's far too easy to write them off as lazy or unmotivated. Society's challenge is to figure out what lights their fire, and help them to light it. I went on a farm tour recently, where western New York farmers were sharing about labor challenges. One farm participates in the government's H2A program to bring in workers from Mexico to help with the harvest. The other farm found the H2A program too cumbersome to meet its need for workers, and solved its labor shortage by hiring recently-arrived refugees. Both farms spoke about how difficult it is to find competent and hard-working labor, particularly for the long days and grueling work of bringing in the harvest.
I do not argue one bit with this. We've seen a bit of their reality. Rock has a hard time finding young people who are willing to build with him. He doesn't like having to monitor people all the time to make sure they're working, and won't hire anyone who he has to keep pestering to get to work. However, we also have experienced young adults who, when they are actively engaged in the process of learning to build, will work extremely long hours in hard conditions, and enjoy the process.
A fundamental piece behind Lagom Landing is that many young people have an innate desire to work with their hands. They often are not given the opportunity to do so, however, in our increasingly computer-based world. We've seen young people who don't know how to use a screw gun, hammer a nail, or even do dishes. However, when shown how to do so, something "clicks", and the person feels engaged and empowered.
Here are some photos from our retreat with the Central Presbyterian Geneseo youth group. We were incredibly blessed by the willingness and hard work that each of the 9 participants brought to our four days together this August:
