"What's the matter with kids today," is a reproach that's been hammered down on young generations for as long as people have been coming of age.  Young people always have new radical ideas to change the way things run, and the undeniable urge to disrupt the sleepy status quo.  Our generation's predecessors (i.e., our parents/baby boomers) by and large aimed to bring down the oligarchy of the "good ole' boys," and create a more humanist society that favored the maximum potential of human beings.  They were hungry for the wisdom and the tools to build this better world, hungry for truth, and they weren't afraid to stand up to the giants that stood in their way.

There is an alarming contrast between our parents' coming of age, and our apathetic and complacent youth.  The contrast makes me unbearably sad, to quote Creon.  The cultural revolution and civil rights crusades of the last century enabled us an enormous amount of freedom and opportunity, not just to access previously forbidden resources, but freedom of expression and safety to speak individual truth.  Yet my cohorts seem unconcerned with the responsibility that comes with this freedom.  Which is why I think this story is so prescient.  Our generation needs more Antigones.  Our generation needs vibrant and brazen leaders whose passion lies outside themselves.  Our generation needs to feel the cost of complacency and isolation in a world of instant information connection.  We need to feel the consequences of drowning ourselves in a world of  chaotic video and empty noise just because we can, while even within our own communities people are still exploited.  It's almost like information technology has taken the place of politeness and repression to shelter us from the turmoil in our lives.

Our generation needs to know that one's individual truth can speak for millions, and must be stated.  The fact is, we've been desensitized to identifying with other people's struggles, and that dispassion and cowardice to speak up leads to devastating outbursts of rage.  I'm thinking of all of the school shootings over the last two decades, the Oklahoma city bombings, the acts of violence carried out by members of groups like Insane Clown Posse.  Those are examples of the dangerous consequences of apathy and willful ignorance.

To me, the story of Antigone is an example of the wisdom and insight that is a blessing of innocence.  To adults it may seem foolish and naive, but uncorrupted passion is the seed of all major change, and without it, we fall flaccid into oppressive and exploiting forces.  Her courage is something that is in high demand and short supply these days.  Her adherence to personal law in the face of dishonor and death is one that must be heard not only by all latent revolutionaries, but by the Creons of the world, who don't stop to consider that maybe their "problem child" isn't just going through a phase, but is challenging a system of contradictions and outdated methods that must be reevaluated.