The Yearning of Youth- or not?

"I think there is a yearning for truth, a desire to find great fundamental truths again. The next big voice who changes everything is going to be someone who can absorb the past, but also speak to the moment. Reality is extremely traumatic right now. You wonder how a nascent artist in his or her adolescence can psychologically process a culture that's so split between the hedonistic carnival of pop and the horrors of terrorism and war- skyscrapers incinerated, bodies dragged through streets, hostages decapitated. There was a similar crisis in World War II, but Americans were much more united. War is always a mutilating and brutalizing experience, so perhaps this generation of young people will be creatively delayed. We might not hear from their strongest voices until they're in their late twenties or thirties. My advice is never to lose will and aspiration. If young people feel dwarfed, eclipsed, or silenced by our omnipresent commercial culture, they should model themselves on marathon runners- keep observing, keep storing up experience and speak later."

Camille Paglia in Interview