To Have a Cause...

It seems like to be a respectable teenager now, you need to have a thing. More specifically a cause. In order for people to understand your identity, your personality, even to just remember you, you have to align yourself with a global issue you want to solve. (As in "Becky?" "Yeah, Darfur Becky." "Oh, Darfur Becky, right.") Maybe it's because of the increased competition of college acceptances that we've all gone cause-crazy. Maybe it's because we're the generation that's scared that either the microwave (cancer), giant icebergs (global warming) or pigs (swine flu) will kill us at any moment, and we genuinely want to make the world a better place before the destruction of the human race. 

Whatever the reason, it still seems sort of selfish. I'm sure there are plenty of us who really do care about the cause we've aligned ourselves with. But at the same time, there's always a somewhat selfish motivation. It could be the notorious "oh this will look great on my college application," or even the "I'm such a good person for helping people like this," or anywhere in between. I honestly believe that most people, especially in this climate, have taken the ideas of charity and good-doing and Americanized it. That is, the "whats in it for me" factor has become the driving force of "global awareness." 

Emma Thompson, a pretty awesome activist herself, transfers this argument about teenagers and applies it to celebrities, but I essentially think the whole idea applies for both. We've made having a cause trite, something people do for an image. Something people can understand.

On the one hand, I think it's great that at least teenagers give a crap about something substantial these days. And admittedly, it has kind of become hard to do anything for others without someone thinking something negative about your intentions. But on the other hand, we're being selfish by claiming a cause as part of our own identity in a climate where teenagers just want to be different. 

What's the best option? Selflessness? Does that exist anymore? I don't want to complain about kids caring (especially since it seems to me that the majority of these kids with causes are girls). But maybe we should just be aware of the way in which we do.