The Voice of the Rising Generation

Chapter 2Rosy-Fingered Dawn

Awakening

If you are a member of the rising generation and you have read thus far, stop for a moment and reflect. You have started a journey. You have taken a leap. You have stepped over that green line, that boundary that circumscribes the gravitational pull of the black hole of the founding dream. You are standing, now, in a position of great energy and great risk. It is a position of great energy because, like most important boundaries in life, it brings together competing and conflicting forces: past and future, constraint and freedom, tradition and innovation, to name a few. It is a place of risk because your path is uncharted. You have choices, and with choices always come risks. Appreciate the momentous nature of your step.

Several of the episodes of Homer's Odyssey begin with the image which has given this chapter its title: “Dawn spread her rosy fingers over the wine-dark sea.” Dawn is a rising. She is also, according to Homer, a goddess, who lights up what is possible, both in terms of space—the expanse of the sea—as well as in time—the coming day with all its opportunities and challenges. Her rosy fingers are inviting, not threatening. She serves as a mediator between the gods on high Olympus and mortal men. Dawn connects the high and the low, making a whole that is visible, and intelligible, and even inviting.

We begin with this image to offer you a similar invitation. As members of the rising generation, you have begun your journey. ...