"Finding Yourself" and Other Goals of My Generation

I consider my generation to be very privileged. Yes, I am generalizing, but for the most part, my contemporary peers have access to technology, which affords us so many options. It allows us to live vicariously through others on the Internet. We can us Expedia to search for inexpensive travel deals and see the world. There are YouTube tutorials available to teach you everything from new languages to knitting stitches. We literally have the world at our fingertips: corny, I know, but true. 

What I don't understand is how my generation still feels the need to "find yourself" elsewhere, as if it's a destination waiting for you in a foreign country. A country like Zimbabwe or Singapore or Iceland most likely does not inherently have all of your inner secrets and truths. I doubt very highly that one can walk off the plane in a foreign land and momentously "understand who you are." 

Logically, it makes no sense. Illogically, it still makes no sense. 

I resent that people ignore their privileges and pretend as though all that they have available is somehow not enough. When my grandfather came to this country from Poland, his goal was to support himself. Figuring out "who he wanted to be" was not a goal; it was a consequence of finding means to survive. 

Perhaps I'm biased, but I find that living in New York City, in the heart of America, provides a wealth of experiences. Even if you take NYC out of the equation, I truly believe that who you are is not a product of where you are. If you still feel this need to find yourself, chances are you already have - and you don't like the person you are.

Rather than moving halfway across the world, I suggest spending your efforts (and money) on where you are now - physically AND emotionally - and actively trying to change yourself, rather than waiting for the world to change you.