There’s something going on today that was hardly prevalent when I was growing up. I remember when I was in my twenties the generation gap was wide, a veritable chasm. Adults generally were emblematic of what we didn’t want to be or do. The spirit of the time was to accumulate adventures, not money. There was rebelliousness in the air. Many just wanted to leave, to go out into the world without any real sense of where they were heading. Not quite so today. It seems, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, that yet again “the times they are a’changin’ ".

In my work with university alumni and students, I see a desire among some young people to connect with the experience and insights of those who are older. I feel a thirst for inspiration, example and mentorship. I am not entirely sure why. Perhaps change is accelerating in a way we can barely keep up, and the problems the young face are on a scale never before seen by humanity.

Yet their aspirations could not be higher. Many perceive the paradox in their ambitions for rich and materially ample lives, and the effect that those ambitions might have on the planet. Many face their futures with great hope and excitement, but also with a measure of concern. As a result, there is a population of young people who are open to the experience of others, because it’s just that experience that might help them conceive and create the rich and meaningful lives they dream for themselves

So if the time is propitious for more exchange between generations, how does one pass on the precious resource that is experience and wisdom? How does one deliver inspiration? We all know we don’t want to be lectured to. We want to be inspired, because inspiration is the energy drink we all need to buck us up when are spirits sag. For our spirits too, so susceptible to life’s vicissitudes, must also be fed.

This was one of the challenges I faced in developing our Connecting Forward program in which we make the experience and wisdom of alumni available to students. Eventually, I found my answer in a man and his book, written some two thousand years ago. The man was Marcus Aurelius and his book we call Meditations. (To be continued in my next Blog)

Something different is going on today...

David Adams

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