I am seventy-six, closer to the end than the beginning, but the creative landscape is harsher than ever. That weight feels different from normal creative struggles. It is about time and opportunity running out.
I have spent a lifetime building skill and depth. The systems that once valued craftsmanship have faded, replaced by platforms built on speed and distraction. It is frustrating to see the world turn away from the kind of work I excel at.
The timing stings. I have more insight now than I did when young, but fewer options to make that work matter. The model of “pay dues and grow an audience” assumes decades I do not have.
The frustration is real. Thoughtful work has a steeper climb today. I will keep creating, but I accept that the system will not change in my lifetime. That is hard to accept.
Very nice piece, thank you-- and so true. It's a bummer to want to help, and to have no takers from young professionals. I remember valuing my mentors. No one seems to want a mentor these days. I guess I'll just whisper into the ears of my sleeping grandbabies...
Thank you, Caron... Mentors are so important. What we will lose without them is incalcuable. Whispering into the ears of the grandbabies is a start... there is still hope!
Great column, Rick. You hit so many nails on their heads. You've caught the melancholy of so many in our times. One of your finest pieces, truly. Thank you, my dear friend, for always continuing to think, to write, and to express what's going on!
Thank you, Neil, honored by your comment. Sorry that we all have to be so f---ing melancholic but I'm the kind of guy that brings a camera to a car accident.
We have reached saturation point with the fake news and faux news sites of the right. Even more daunting is the incessant but crucial crying of wolf from the left. Every day, there is a new outrage--it's only human for sensitive souls to go numb. What I see happening with youth is a complete disconnect. And they have reason! Those who aren't drowning in bi-polar, narcissistic, or obsessive oppositional disorders, are in bleak survival mode--hunting jobs, housing, food, bikes, clothing, and recyclable cans. Many are camping out or sleeping in vehicles. We, at their age, were malingering in college forever via expensive loans and though we only reluctantly and half-heartedly entered the job market, we never hit the skids like young people are doing today in droves. Rent and food were incredibly cheap back then and though we weren't overtly materialistic, the economy hadn't yet reached feudal levels of inequity. Current statistics show that half a century of stagnant wages paired with skyrocketing real estate values have priced our youth completely out of the American Dream. At age 30, 34% of boomers owned a home. Today only 4% of 30 year olds do so. I can only hope their solutions won't include forming a police state and eliminating all nonwhite rivals for homes and jobs. The early Third Reich was having the same issue with runaway inflation. Rearmament, universal recruitment, and the liquidation of outsider groups were Germany's go-to answers to an abysmal economy. History seems to be repeating itself, which makes me glad I'm old, because between climate crisis, spreading authoritarianism, and increasing wealth inequality, I don't have much hope for the future. And I'm usually as optimistic and idealistic as they come.
Thank you, RJ, for so well articulating the dark feelings I increasingly struggle with…there is so much depth covered here! And so much clearly lost, in this ancient humans opinion…
And this…” But in the last couple of years that connection has gone dark. The kids I’ve met are not thinking outside the box — there is no box. They’re not curious, they’re defensive. They’re not rebelling, they’re conforming. I’m getting the famous blank “Gen Z” stare, the open mouth, the glazed eyes, the lowered shoulders, shuffling gait and umbilical attachment to electronic devices.”
I spent a lifetime working with young people. First, the horribly abused and neglected in residential treatment, then elementary students for almost 3 decades, focus on Special Education and neurodiverse learners. These children filled my days while with them, and my mind when away from them. Their bright eyes, their laughter, engagement and wonder, as well as struggles, pain, and grief. It was draining and so deeply fulfilling.
Knowing how much disdain for public schools and educators fill the internet threads, articles and conversations I sadly feel deep relief I’m old enough to have stepped away, yet grief stricken for the continued losses diverse and enriched school environments once offered. I worry deeply about young people, as they have always brought the next wave of hope to humanity.
Our nation is swirling with such anger and disconnection I’ve no idea what will happen for and to our creatives, our empaths, those who read deeply, and give freely. Who are inspired and inspire others…I just know like another of your readers my hour glass has most of the sand at its bottom and so , it appears, I am not just insignificant, as so clearly pointed out by Vance and Miller, I am useless, apparently needing a “nap”…I suspect Miller and the slimy VP were thinking a dirt nap…
What an upbeat column.
I am seventy-six, closer to the end than the beginning, but the creative landscape is harsher than ever. That weight feels different from normal creative struggles. It is about time and opportunity running out.
I have spent a lifetime building skill and depth. The systems that once valued craftsmanship have faded, replaced by platforms built on speed and distraction. It is frustrating to see the world turn away from the kind of work I excel at.
The timing stings. I have more insight now than I did when young, but fewer options to make that work matter. The model of “pay dues and grow an audience” assumes decades I do not have.
The frustration is real. Thoughtful work has a steeper climb today. I will keep creating, but I accept that the system will not change in my lifetime. That is hard to accept.
Thank you, Bret. I know you are keeping it real. I only hope that if anyone is still listening we can keep the values that matter to us alive.
Well said and very sad.
My son, in the arts, feels lost too. Advice is hard to give. As you said, I tell him I care and am here for him.
I struggle to stay positive, but the only path is forward.
Agreed! Thank you, Greg!
Very nice piece, thank you-- and so true. It's a bummer to want to help, and to have no takers from young professionals. I remember valuing my mentors. No one seems to want a mentor these days. I guess I'll just whisper into the ears of my sleeping grandbabies...
Thank you, Caron... Mentors are so important. What we will lose without them is incalcuable. Whispering into the ears of the grandbabies is a start... there is still hope!
Thanks RJ — so true lately
Great column, Rick. You hit so many nails on their heads. You've caught the melancholy of so many in our times. One of your finest pieces, truly. Thank you, my dear friend, for always continuing to think, to write, and to express what's going on!
Thank you, Neil, honored by your comment. Sorry that we all have to be so f---ing melancholic but I'm the kind of guy that brings a camera to a car accident.
We have reached saturation point with the fake news and faux news sites of the right. Even more daunting is the incessant but crucial crying of wolf from the left. Every day, there is a new outrage--it's only human for sensitive souls to go numb. What I see happening with youth is a complete disconnect. And they have reason! Those who aren't drowning in bi-polar, narcissistic, or obsessive oppositional disorders, are in bleak survival mode--hunting jobs, housing, food, bikes, clothing, and recyclable cans. Many are camping out or sleeping in vehicles. We, at their age, were malingering in college forever via expensive loans and though we only reluctantly and half-heartedly entered the job market, we never hit the skids like young people are doing today in droves. Rent and food were incredibly cheap back then and though we weren't overtly materialistic, the economy hadn't yet reached feudal levels of inequity. Current statistics show that half a century of stagnant wages paired with skyrocketing real estate values have priced our youth completely out of the American Dream. At age 30, 34% of boomers owned a home. Today only 4% of 30 year olds do so. I can only hope their solutions won't include forming a police state and eliminating all nonwhite rivals for homes and jobs. The early Third Reich was having the same issue with runaway inflation. Rearmament, universal recruitment, and the liquidation of outsider groups were Germany's go-to answers to an abysmal economy. History seems to be repeating itself, which makes me glad I'm old, because between climate crisis, spreading authoritarianism, and increasing wealth inequality, I don't have much hope for the future. And I'm usually as optimistic and idealistic as they come.
Thank you, RJ, for so well articulating the dark feelings I increasingly struggle with…there is so much depth covered here! And so much clearly lost, in this ancient humans opinion…
And this…” But in the last couple of years that connection has gone dark. The kids I’ve met are not thinking outside the box — there is no box. They’re not curious, they’re defensive. They’re not rebelling, they’re conforming. I’m getting the famous blank “Gen Z” stare, the open mouth, the glazed eyes, the lowered shoulders, shuffling gait and umbilical attachment to electronic devices.”
I spent a lifetime working with young people. First, the horribly abused and neglected in residential treatment, then elementary students for almost 3 decades, focus on Special Education and neurodiverse learners. These children filled my days while with them, and my mind when away from them. Their bright eyes, their laughter, engagement and wonder, as well as struggles, pain, and grief. It was draining and so deeply fulfilling.
Knowing how much disdain for public schools and educators fill the internet threads, articles and conversations I sadly feel deep relief I’m old enough to have stepped away, yet grief stricken for the continued losses diverse and enriched school environments once offered. I worry deeply about young people, as they have always brought the next wave of hope to humanity.
Our nation is swirling with such anger and disconnection I’ve no idea what will happen for and to our creatives, our empaths, those who read deeply, and give freely. Who are inspired and inspire others…I just know like another of your readers my hour glass has most of the sand at its bottom and so , it appears, I am not just insignificant, as so clearly pointed out by Vance and Miller, I am useless, apparently needing a “nap”…I suspect Miller and the slimy VP were thinking a dirt nap…
RJ, does pot really help lower blood pressure?
Probably?
😂