The Power Of Me

July 8, 2005

In the summer of 1976, New York Magazine came out with a front cover prominently featuring the word “ME.” The lead piece was Tom Wolfe’s essay "The Me Decade and the Third Great Awakening." Thus the term “the Me Decade” came into being, and an era of obsessive self-interest running to hedonism officially began. The “decade” lingered on, evolved and matured, and grew into the current trend, the “Power of Me.”

The “Me” of today is not the over-indulged narcissist of the ’70s, whining about empowerment. The Power of Me is forward motion with a goal in mind. Channelling our energy into the action of expression, we’ve discovered productive new ways to assert ourselves and make our personal mark on the world: creating works of art, starting blog sites, writing self-help books and memoirs, and launching into business ventures.

You can now go online to customise your Nike shoes, choosing colours for the base, lining and stripes, and adding a personal ID.

Jones Soda Co. solicits photos and artwork from its customers, and lets the public vote on which images to use as product labels.

The Biojewellery project, a collaboration of design researchers at the Royal College of Art and a bioengineer at King's College London, takes individual contribution even farther, using bone cells from a donor couple to bioengineer wedding rings -- intermingled DNA as a symbol of personal commitment.

Trendwatching.com notes another emerging trend. The younger consumers -- or "Masters of the Youniverse" -- have begun to "create their own playgrounds, their own comfort zones, their own universe." Masters of the Youniverse are addicted to online technology and the various devices associated with it: mobile phones, iPods, game consoles, computers, BlackBerrys and digital cameras.

This ready access to online technology encourages individuals to voice their opinions openly, and gives the satisfaction of knowing those opinions will be widely noted. Programs such as "Comment," by EuroNews and European Voice, offer a structured forum for individuals to speak from. Comment participants can watch a daily topic -- such as "Have tourists a short memory?" and "Is another world possible?" -- on TV or online, then go to the Comment Forum on euronews.com and join a debate on that topic.

Some prefer to express themselves online by revealing their innermost thoughts via blogs or sites such as PostSecret.com. PostSecret is an ongoing web-community art project where contributors confess things they've never told anyone before, writing them anonymously on homemade postcards. The intricate craftsmanship shown in creating the postcards makes an eloquent statement of its own.

Community Links, an East London charitable organisation, feels that "each of us has the power to make a difference and, if enough people do the same thing, the cumulative effect will ultimately change the world." So it started "We Are What We Do," a project based on Ghandi's exhortation, "We must be the change we want in the world." Individuals are encouraged to begin with simple actions such as declining plastic bags, reading a story with a child, smiling back at people and following the speed limit.

The Power of Me is not just a passing phase. Elementary schools, the YMCA and Girl Scouts all have programmes entitled "The Power of Me," focusing on personal growth and expression. The Brooklyn Children's Museum is offering a summer workshop, "The Power of Me: Kids listen to a reading of It's Okay to Be Different, then create a paper doll to celebrate individual personalities and abilities."

You think me the child of my circumstances: I make my circumstance. Let any thought or motive of mine be different from that they are, the difference will transform my condition and economy. I -- this thought which is called I -- is the mould into which the world is poured like melted wax. The mould is invisible, but the world betrays the shape of the mould. You call it the power of circumstance, but it is the power of me."

 

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