There are some reasons why I might agree with Paul Wilk ("Resident angered by tragedy response," SN 9/9) that my generation is heavily populated with self-absorbed, privileged brats. But, not displaying their emotions to a middle-aged man in a college computer lab is not one of them.
It would have been impossible for him to have known the content of every cell-phone conversation, every e-mail and every site visited by the students he observed. I wonder, in fact, if anyone in that room noticed that Wilk was so concerned about the day's happenings.
Wilk himself points out that he noticed this "lack of humanity" on Aug. 30, when news came about the tragedy in New Orleans, and he himself was "frantically searching" the Internet for information.
Furthermore, he goes as far as to mention, derisively, that the students he observed "did not even know what was happening." If they didn't know what was happening, then they couldn't have possibly been able to show concern in a way that would've made Wilk happy.
Yes, it took a while for the news to spread. And, yes, perhaps it was in part due to students being preoccupied with matters that, in comparison, do seem trivial, but I can assure him that everyone has been talking about Hurricane Katrina.
My generation has grown up on large-scale disaster. My heart aches in sympathy for what has been lost in New Orleans, but I can safely guess that not one professor postponed homework or quizzes last week, and it is, I admit, pathetically easy for me to shift horror and sadness to the back of my mind while I finish my work.
Lastly, I address the statement that "(our) selfish baby-boomer parents have instilled in (us) the message that (we) should always be the center of attention." Under his name, the words "1980 MSU graduate" appear. Funny, my parents also graduated from college around that time. Wilk, it is your own generation that has created us: self-absorbed, humanity-lacking, privileged, attention-craving, sick and selfish brats.
Tara Franey
biosystems engineering sophomore
