On Being Cultured

As a anthropology major, the one word I should be able to define is 'culture'. Yet four years and lots of money spent on my southern education later, I find I still cannot provide anyone with a straight definition of what culture actually is. This isn't to say my southern education failed me. Rather, I think I learned the reason culture is so hard to articulate, elucidate, and interpret is that it because culture is everything we speak, think, act, and do. Its how we formulate our thoughts, construct our morals, and communicate to one another. It is the invisible mechanism through which we interpret our world and identity. As such, it is hard to step back and detangle yourself enough from culture to really reflect on its influence as a entity.

Lately, I have been thinking about the culture of twenty somethings. Like every generation, there are certain patterns, cultures, practices, and morals that instruct an define life at this age. Yet what makes the culture of twenty somethings so fascinating? As I thought of it more, I realized there were inherent inconsistencies and persistent paradoxes that could be found buried within the idea of what our existence should be in at this age. Doubt and success, maturity and youth, euphoria and depression, all make for a seductive and whimsical combination that endows the twenty something era with a certain degree of romance. And just because I like being a academic sometimes, I wanted to break down the culture of being a twenty something further. 

1. Learned Behaviors
At this age, most of us are most likely working from a set of learned behaviors we have internalized from what we have been taught growing up. Its the whole of idea of going to school, getting a job, getting married, etc. Its learning how to interact in a school setting and a professional setting, how to navigate both strangers and friends, and how to make in a world you are beginning to realize is completely your for the taking. Its fast and non-forgiving, yet electrifying and extraordinary.

2. Social Norms
A huge part of twenty something culture is practicing the complex and confusing dance of friendships and partnerships that give meaning in our relationships to each other. It means taking part in the social rituals that are the staple of life at this age: brunching, partying, and working. It includes taking part in the hook-up scene with instantaneous drunk connections, lonely one nights stands, and awkward morning encounters. Finding real love and fake friends, making causal acquaintances and deep bonds. More than anything, we practice all these conventions to feel connected to each other - to realize we are not alone in this scary adult world of responsibility and opportunity.

3. Common Language
Perhaps one of the most entertaining aspects of the twenty something culture is the shared language that vocalizes our generation's comedy, wit, and dreams. Terms like 'unpaid internship', 'feminist Ryan Goseling' and 'social media' hold special meaning to us. Identifying with the same themes though vociferation is a physical manifestation of our culture. Expressing our emotions, values, and ideas through words correlates to a sort of secret code - the language of those who recognize themselves in one another. 

4. Spirit
Despite all the setbacks that come with being young clueless, at this age in life, I think it is our strong belief in our potential, power, and one another that binds each of us together in this strange cultural concoction of ambiguity and faith at the twenty something marker. Our culture is based in the belief that through persistent work and unforgiving enthusiasm we can succeed to become both profitable and philanthropic,influential and industrious,enlightened and relevant. That despite outdated social pressures and conflicting contemporary expectations we can transcend society's challenges to arrive at the end of our decade both fulfilled and nostalgic. So despite our passage from these years to the uncertain ones beyond, we must try to enjoy our particular confusion of dreams, fears, and madness. Because today is ours - and we are somethings that are making twenty count now.