Chasing Dreams Vs Following Dreams!

A synonym list of ‘Chasing’ and ‘Following’ throws up an interesting list of words.

Chasing = Racing / Dashing / Rushing /Careering/ Hurtling/ Hunting/ Pursuing

Following = Next / Succeeding / Resulting / Ensuing / Behind / After.

I have been an advocate of the virtues of the Gen Xers to which I belong and have found myself an object of ridicule in the recent past amongst my younger friends and family and also friends of mine from my Generation who often wear the’ cloak’ of  change preachers.  I am often accused by them of living in the past and not intrepid enough to accept reality.

As a father of what you can call Z++ gen kids at home, I’m mostly out-numbered in my opinions. Hence the only place I get to vent my thoughts are on this blog with friends who have been considerate enough not to take me to the launderers.

I hear so many youngsters these days talking about chasing their dreams or passion and do not want to be tied down / adhere to the traditional approaches in life, be it in the social or professional spheres. They are all chasing everything which means they are rushing and dashing and hurtling and hunting to achieve their dreams or passions.  As you can see all these synonyms of chasing throw up a list of rather ‘violent’ verbs and smell of impatience. On the contrary one could also argue that the highly successful start up generation of today was the result of this impatient chasing of dreams. The impatience in pursuit of valuations is a story for another day.

The GenXers also had dreams; it’s just that we ‘followed’ them instead of chasing it. We had the patience to see what ‘followed’ and what the ‘resulting’ outcomes were.  We rarely knew what was ‘behind’ or what ‘succeeded’ our efforts. In short we never knew what lay ‘after’.  In contrast to the synonyms associated with chasing, you can see here the words ooze of patience and uncertainty and what followed was always a mystery. We patiently waited for our efforts to deliver our dreams. We were probably a generation of who preferred to wait for our marshmallows!!!

I acknowledge the fact that the personality of each generation is defined by the conditions opportunities & challenges prevalent in the period they were born and brought up. While we the Genexers where born just after the baby boomers of the 40’s and 50’s we had to make do with the limited resources available but at the same time enjoying the liberty and freedom all around. The Gen Z where born at the dawn of the millennium and the Internet. While the Z++ as I chose to label them where born at a time when facebook and google were midwives at their birth.

Each one of the generations went through phases of rebellion and their own share of questioning the norms and practises. However the tone and tenor in which the Gen Z questions the norms is appalling. I don’t blame them but pity them instead. They are living in a much more competitive world and simply don’t have the time to debate and agree to disagree.  They need to race, rush and hurtle in the process of hunting down their dreams.

We cannot turn our heads away from the perils facing this generation since we are also stake holders in most of them by virtue of being their parents / aunts or uncles.  We as a society of Genexers who I believe have the seen the good and the bad of both worlds are best positioned to explain and guide them.