9/40 - Institutional Love

I am almost the oldest Millennial. I was born 41 days into what is officially defined as the beginning point for Millennials. And, while I am biased with my own point of view, it was a pretty great time to be born. I got to live my entire childhood without computers or mobile phones or on-demand entertainment. One of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me was not letting me get my own Nintendo when I asked, therefore I am awful at video games and think they are mostly a waste of time (a parental ruling that changed for both of my younger brothers by the way.)

But more than anything growing up when I did, institutions still worked. Or at least seemed like they did. The government, local and national, appeared to the electorate as still in control of things. The local schools were a place to confidently send your kids, regardless of your zip code. The church was a place of consistency and a part of people's weekly routine, whether you cared much about what was being preached or not, it was a place not to be missed.

The institutions of my childhood were believable and seemed to be run by competent people. Much more so than any institution in my life today.

Growing up inside of these seemingly competent institutions gave me a framework for how I thought they worked that it took me a long time to realize was incorrect, or at least incomplete.

You know that saying, "never meet your heroes"? Yeah, it's true. When I got older and I started meeting people in power in all of these institutions, I realized how much they were just making it up as they went just like the rest of us. That we are all flawed humans doing the best we can with what we have. There are very few, if any people, that I have met that actually are able to live up to the office or the position they hold.  

But that eventual disillusionment didn't come until much later.

When I was coming up through the ranks of Boy Scouts and other institutional programs, I was angling for being the best and winning all the awards and all the patches that were there to be had. I learned quickly that it was through these kinds of accomplishments people assigned value to you and your future within the organization.  

I also learned that being a part of an organization that others in your family were a part of came with a whole new layer of expectation. My grandfather had almost made Eagle Scout as a kid so he forced my uncle to finish. When I was in Boy Scouts, there was a very clear expectation from both of them that I'd be the next in the family tree to get my Eagle Scout since my older cousin had opted out of this expectation by not ever joining Boy Scouts.

When I left at the end of 5th grade after getting my Arrow of Light, I felt the tension across the family, from my parents to my first interactions with my grandfather and uncle. When you are a part of the institution they like, you are liked more.

Now, the failure of our institutions is one of the clearest and present dangers that exist in our society and one that I think is the historical headline looking back on this era in future textbooks. That is why I am so glad that I grew up when I did, at a time when more of the world made sense because you could just say, and actually believe, that the head of the government or the school or the church had it under control.