I don't think there is anything wrong with taking a lousy job if it pays and then getting one's fulfillment through volunteering. I just wish I could find a lousy job.

I don't think there is anything wrong with taking a lousy job if it pays and then getting one's fulfillment through volunteering. I just wish I could find a lousy job.

I actually think the main flaw isn't the post's “romanticism” but rather the idea that Michigan is the only entity worth loving. I don't think a lot of people leave because they are selfish, I think they do so because they value other things (like their country) and they don't see leaving as “abandonment”. And, honestly, I think they're right.

The thing that really resonated with me was the idea of ownership and responsibility. I think that's something that we're not very good at as a generation. We can get interested in problems and maybe want to fix them but they're not ever “our problems”, and we're not easily burdened with duty.

This isn't a character issue; it's an infrastructure issue. People I know aren't leaving because they're selfish and lazy, they're leaving because they ALREADY TRIED to start something new and couldn't find the resources to get it off the ground here. Or they tried to do things through existing organizations and were not taken seriously because of their youth and/or the org's unwillingness to change.

I feel that your emotionalism is clouding your judgement. We shouldn't be swept up in romantic notions of transformation and having our names on buildings (?). Gen-Yrs should be motivated by the desire to make lasting, positive change. Logically, we should allow for the fact that some of us may find places outside Michigan where we can make a difference more quickly, more efficiently, or with greater impact because that place has an existing infrastructure to do so. I don't think people should be be perceived as lazy or selfish for pursuing such opportunities.

Potentially, things are different on your side of the state. In Grand Rapids, we have not experienced the “abandonment and disinterest” you describe. I believe this is because of the long tradition of philanthropy and the Dutch Calvinist (for lack of a better term) work ethic so prevalent here. The downside of that is, for young, Gen-Y transplants from other states, it can be extremely difficult to break into the area's existing power circles. People are by-and-large quite traditional and conservative here. Change is slow.

Also, let's not pretend working in New York is a walk in Central Park. It's an extremely competitive environment, and a difficult place to live–not exactly the path of least resistance. There's a reason they say “if you can make in New York, you can make it anywhere”.

The bottom line is, I feel like when the discussion gets overly impassioned like this, we get away from the real crux of the issue: How are we going to attract the resources to make all this unselfish world-changing stuff happen? Are we going to work those existing systems and infrastructure, or are we going to create our own? If the latter, what will that process look like?