LETTER TO THE EDITOR: The meaningful relationship nearby

A lot of talk and study recently has been swirling around a “Gen Z” sense of purposelessness. For example, a 2023 Harvard Graduate School of Education study discovered "over half of young adults experience little to no meaning or purpose, correlating with doubled rates of anxiety and depression …” Designed for educators and “older adults,” to address this crisis, the study goes on to suggest fostering relationships with young people, nurturing spiritual growth and exploration, and so on.

This is a praiseworthy goal, but maybe this study’s genesis is emblematic of a deeper problem: the question of “why” young people are adrift and disconnected.

Obviously, there is no simple answer to this question. To name just a few culprits: poor economic prospects, post-COVID induced social isolation, traditional institutional breakdown, the breakdown of the family bond; all of which are exacerbated by addictive and alienating technologies.

But there may be a quick and simple starting point for turning this trend around. As the study points out: “By far, the biggest source of meaning and purpose was relationships; nearly half (46%) mentioned relationships or loved ones as sources of meaning and purpose.”

And the nearest relationship is the most fundamental one: the family.

In all families, we have all forms of relationships, because we have all kinds of people: nice ones, “mean” ones, fat ones, thin ones, loud ones, quiet ones, and on and on. But unlike our social and work communities, our family relationship provides a unique springboard for discovering meaning and purpose. For all its warts, failings and gifts, family is both continuous and permanent. You are here because you came from somewhere, and that can never go away. It might not seem like much, but it’s that first, nearby step.

Anne Doherty

Santa Fe