The embers in the fire pit near Lake Lagunita were still burning this morning when the Dawn Jogger took a spin along its banks, surrounded on all sides by smashed beer cans. The video of crowds at the White House last night, following the announcement that the U.S. had killed Osama bin Laden, showed mostly young people. It was the Dawn Jogger’s son who had called to tell her the news. It has her wondering if this news that the man who led the terrorist attack on 9/11 was finally captured and “brought to justice” had more meaning for the 30 something and under set than those who’d come to a maturity during the Cold War and Vietnam? If it was the bin Laden announcement that brought students to the Lake’s banks last night, they seem to have made the most of their celebration. The remnants of good-sized fireworks were also spread on the ground…
Dawn Jogger 2011 
Have noticed same comments in national press about the age group of “celebrants”. However, it’s not really celebrating as is understood normally for the term…it’s more like a communal gathering or happening to recognize a passage of history. It may also represent a pent-up psychological tension or anxiety of some sort. There are layers of anxiety for this generation…economic, social, political, personal, relational….which has always been the case for transition into adulthood, but….it is so much more difficult now for them that it was for us.