A New Book, Titled "Generation 9/11" Captures the Vision of a More Civically Involved Youth
A new book, released on August 24, captures a promising new trend among today’s youth. They are more concerned about the environment, politics and globalisation. Interest in non-profit careers has more than doubled and volunteering is more popular than ever.
(PRWEB) August 25, 2005 -- Steve Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth
Service America, recently announced that "today's young people are volunteering
at record rates - more than any generation in history." (ysa.org)
CBS
News reported in July this year that interest in non-profit careers has more
than doubled. Applications for Peace Corps are up 80% and Teach for America
experienced an increase of 40%. According to the same report, young people
graduating from prestigious American universities are forfeiting jobs on Wall
Street to teach inner-city kids.
It is this opting for alternatives to an
economic system mainly encouraging self-interest, that characterises Reissmann’s
book “Generation 9/11”.
Travelling through Central America, Thomas is
guided by synchronicities, a sense of his soul-mate and a vision of a more
balanced world. There are tests of courage, coincidental meetings, and magic
plants that lead the way. His encounters with travellers from around the globe
inspire conversations, ranging from humorous to profound. He will come to see
the world in a different way as he learns the truth about globalisation,
terrorism; the purpose of DNA and the power of the unconscious.
What
emerges is a philosophy of care and self-determination, similar to Robert
Pirsig’s notion of Quality in “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”, yet
applicable to today’s accelerated culture. Just like Pirsig's road trip,
Reissmann's story is a travel account as well as a search for inner peace. There
is also the same sense of practicality when it comes to proposing alternatives.
In the words of Dr. Lorin Roche, author of Meditation 24/7: "You will
laugh and cry as you see travel, love and politics intertwine. Tom's book takes
you along a daring road of fact, unconscious imagery and intuition. At the end
of which, we are left with the feeling that we have somehow touched the divine."
A recent reviewer on Amazon wrote the following about his first book “Return to
La Paz”: "Reissmann has a beautiful way of conveying his story by spinning an
intricate web of ideas, philosophies, and teachings together. He is an inspiring
and talented writer."
In Reissmann’s opinion, young people began to see
the long-term effects of 9/11, when it catalyzed not one but two wars; caused
numerous other terrorist attacks; curtailed civil liberties and spurned several
scandals, including the Rove-leak, the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and the
falsification of intelligence data to justify the war in Iraq. But above all, it
highlighted the dangers of dependence on oil imports and the influence of
corporations on American foreign policy. As a consequence, young people are now
actively searching for alternatives to the current political and economic
system.
Add to this the threat of global warming and this generation has
reason to be seriously concerned. A new study out of MIT has determined that the
destructive power of hurricanes in the North Atlantic and North Pacific has
nearly doubled over the past 30 years (democracynow.org). The Canadian
Environment Minister David Anderson noted in 2004, that global warming poses a
greater long-term threat to humanity than terrorism because it could force
hundreds of millions from their homes and trigger an economic catastrophe (CNN).
While “Fahrenheit 9/11”, “The Daily Show” and “Get out the Vote”
programs could not change the election result, they did raise awareness of such
issues among a previously apolitical young generation, and as a result the youth
vote was up 9.3% in the 2004 election, after decades of decreasing youth voter
numbers (youthvote.org).
But as Wilene Justilien, a law student, who now
teaches French to inner-city kids, pointed out on CBS News: "If we are truly
going to affect change in our country it has to start at the bottom, it has to
start with our young ones." She defines Generation 9/11 as “a generation that
wants to improve the lives of others and is driven to succeed at that right
now.”
Thomas Reissmann’s background lends an interesting perspective to
his work, as he was liberated by the collapse of socialism in East Germany, and
subsequently travelled the world for eight years. He has studied Tourism
Management in the UK and Australia; investigated the effects of tourism in Costa
Rica; managed a hostel in New Zealand, and currently works for
responsibletravel.com. For more information go to www.generation911.co.uk.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/8/prweb274245.htm