Roaring Twentysomethings

Madonna was one when she put out her first hit, as well as Tom Cruise when he did Top Gun. So was Rizal when he wrote Noli, and Aguinaldo when he led an army, Kris Aquino acts like she still is, Britney Spears acts like she always was, while Gwyneth, Penelope and Charlize are all swanning around because they currently are. And if you happened to be born during the dead calm of martial law and the living kitsch that was disco, then you are one, too.

The greatest common factor? Being twentysomething.

The twentysomethings of today are in that twilight cusp between Generations X and Y. We’re too old for bushy hair, too young for George W. Bush, but probably just right for Bush the rock band. We watched and learned as our older siblings did punk, New Wave and Bagets, pined over Phoebe Cates and Rob Lowe, and mourned the death of Julie Vega. We cringe in horror when our younger siblings refuse to believe us when we say that Michael and Janet Jackson are brother and sister, retorting, "But he’s white and she’s black!" We completely understood when Buffy the Vampire Slayer declared, "All I want to do is graduate from high school, go to Europe, marry Christian Slater, and die!" and then we look at ourselves now and we realize that we’ve actually done college, we’re nowhere near Europe, we haven’t thought of Christian Slater since Interview with a Vampire... and we’re not exactly vampire slayers. We couldn’t wait to get out of college and check out the "real world" that MTV and Reality Bites kept yakking about — and now that we’re in it, we ask ourselves:

So we waited twentysomething years to be twentysomething—and this is it?

Quarterlife Crisis

Unlike the concept of Generation X, which started out as a demographic discovery for advertising wizards on the lookout for a new target market, today’s twentysomethings are now under scrutiny because we’re tasting a contemporary slice of the existentialist pie. Perhaps strung out by listening to our parents wail about their midlife and telling us that "these are the best times of your life," we have now come up with a way to block them out. It’s probably the final relic of teenage rebellion inside us, and we’ve named it the "Quarterlife Crisis."

A new self-help book of the same title is now inching up the bestseller lists and spawning websites, chain e-mails and support groups across the United States. Penned by Alexandra Robbins and Abby Wilner, it’s a collection of anecdotes and insights from their fellow twentysomethings who, apparently, are now mired in feelings of helplessness, aimlessness and disjointed-ness in the transition to adulthood. It’s a phenomenon prevalent among the American white middle-class, college-educated, would-be-yuppies, and, even more tellingly, among women.

According to the book, this syndrome can be attributed to diverse factors, ranging from your grandparents’ wartime stories to Gisele Bundchen’s smashing success. People from previous generations were doing things quite differently when they were our age: grandpa was willing to give up his life for country and mommy was already changing our diapers while attempting to pursue a career—we, on the other hand, can hardly even get out of bed. In addition to that, instant success stories about other twentysomethings abound: webmasters selling their ideas to Microsoft, supermodels selling their eyelashes, and our former rock idols selling their souls, for millions. While we, sad to say, are considering filching from Dad’s wallet to pay our credit card and cell phone bills.

Puzzled or even disgusted elders might pat us on the head, saying, "Everything was practically laid out for you—your education, your fashion sense, your dating rituals. You’re not fighting for great principles like civil rights or women’s lib. You’re not getting married and thinking about family planning. And here you are whining about... what seems to be nothing!"

Robbins and Wilner would say that this is exactly the problem, and it lies in being "suffocated by choice." Like the channels on cable TV or the suggested websites that pop out on Google, our choices are expanding and multiplying. Not only have the rules changed, but so have the old constructs that once defined male/female, career/pastime, black/white/brown, old/young, good/evil/so-bad-but-feels-so-good, pretty/ugly/crazy/beautiful, what-have-you. We have finally inherited the freedom of lifestyle that past generations took to the streets for. Why aren’t we enjoying the fruits of their labor?

Babies Of Baby-Boomers

Someone once said: "The task of every generation is that it be better than the last." Our parents are the so-called Baby Boomers, the fine results of a reproductive frenzy that occurred after the sexual drought of World War II. To understand ourselves, we must find clues in the kind of lives they’ve led.

Our grandparents tried to give our parents the American dreaminess of an idyllic childhood in the Fifties. They went through grade school basking in the colonialist warmth of American salvation, the optimism of rebuilding a war-torn country, and the gentle lyricism of "Mambo, Mambo Magsaysay, Mambo Mambo mabuhay, Our democracy will die, kung wala si Magsaysay."

The Sixties happened, and the first real teenage rebellion, as well as the generation-gap phenomenon, was recorded in modern life. Rock music, the penultimate expression of adolescent defiance, was exemplified by Elvis, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, and other such legends. As in all over the world, students began chanting anti-establishment mantras, and left their campuses to conduct a parliament of the streets. As Flower Children, they preached against war and sang about love and peace.

Then came the Seventies, and martial law and Disco-rama, and our parents began a new phase in their lives — they became parents. (This time, was it the ennui of the martial law curfew evenings that led to our conception?) With their wild days behind them, they embarked on a tamer pursuit, which was to give their children their own version of the American dream.

In the Tackiest Decade of All, also known as the Eighties, our parents worked and worked, and suddenly, new symbols of wealth gave them inspiration. The Dynasty-Dallas decade was also the pinnacle of consumerism, and the need to buy and buy more became a heavy burden on our mothers’ well-padded shoulders. It was also the time of EDSA ’86 and Corazon Aquino, a period of hope, optimism and high morale for many Filipinos.

Come the 1990s, we were already the teenagers our parents dreaded. These were the years of the Burnout for them, as they realized the emptiness brought about by the greed and materialism of the last decade. Many lamented that they regretted not having spent enough time with the kids, and there we were, all grown up and horrible. Self-help books, psycho-therapists and the zodiac became all the rage, as well as catch-phrases like "dysfunctional family," "star sign," and "I’m not religious, I’m spiritual."

And the Globalization, the Internet, texting, and the new millennium. While our parents are now contemplating midlife and asking their doctors about the prospects of longevity, we find ourselves... there, today, with one eyebrow cocked in doubt at tomorrow.

Choice And Power

Maybe we’re not really overwhelmed by choice. Maybe we’re not truly aimless or isolated. Maybe we’re just so much smarter than we ever imagined, and we’re finding it hard to fathom our own brilliance.

First, we’re less ignorant. We’ve learned from the errors of the baby-boomers, and the terrifying damage brought on by their carelessness. We’ve inherited environmental degradation, a culture of corrupt politics, and the hollowness of materialism. We’re not only careful to make those same mistakes, but we’re even going to try to repair them. While we still get blown over by the consumerist impulses and are dazzled by virtual reality, we’re also searching for some form of authenticity—yoga and meditation, aromatherapy, organic food and beauty products—even if we do it online.

Next, we’re less innocent. Thanks to growing up in front of the television set, we knew more about the facts of life in grade school than our parents did when they were in college. We enjoy gross-out movies. We don’t want to carry on the jaded slacker attitude of Gen X, but we are aware of the many contradictions and hypocrisies in society. We’ve seen too many of our role models and leaders get knocked off their pedestals by one media scandal after another. We’re less willing to swallow and follow The Only Way, and are more open to a plurality of thoughts, methods and ideas.

Finally, we also happen to be the most tech-and-media-savvy age group ever. Ever. It probably began when we found ourselves teaching our mothers how to program the Betamax. And to this day, we’re teaching them how to e-mail and send text messages. Many deplored the fact that we were reading less books because we were too busy with Game&Watch. But information is now available at our fingertips to demand and to supply, because we’ve never been daunted by new technology (and judging from the lines at bookstores and the success of Amazon.com, we are starting to read again).

What we have, my fellow twentysomethings, is not merely choice. We have power. Because we not only know more, but have the capacity to access and control that knowledge more than anybody, we have the power to shape the future, even at this tender age. We are smarter than we give ourselves credit, and we are wiser too, because our parents have allowed us to learn from their colorful past. The fact that we even bother to ponder about a Quarterlife Crisis reflects the self-awareness and enlightenment our chicken soup-fed souls are so good at.

We have so many choices, and we’ve also been chosen by destiny. The new millennium, after all, belongs to us.