The protests taking place on college campuses are generally viewed in one of two ways. Supporters see it as an expression of indignation against colonial oppressors and a demonstration for humanitarian values. Opponents see it as blatant antisemitism and misguided support for terrorists who believe in anything but humanitarian values. I agree with the opponents, but I also see something else in all of this: the clear desperation felt by a generation whose lives largely lack purpose.
A full, happy life requires living with purpose. It means serving others. We see today’s college students who support Hamas desperately seeking to be part of something bigger than themselves. Yes, they are protesting for multiple reasons ranging from TikTok propaganda to legitimate humanitarian concerns to rampant antisemitism. But ultimately, I think it comes down to an emptiness that just too many of them feel in their daily lives.
The underlying premise of capitalism is that if we have enough abundance — if we have enough material wealth, enough comfort — we will be happy. Full stop. But we live in a world of total abundance. Having an iPhone and a PS5 and any other gadget on the market isn’t enough to make us happy on a sustainable basis, no matter what we see on Instagram or Bravo.
What behavioral economists and psychologists have known for years is that without being part of something larger than ourselves, our lives are fundamentally empty. Trying to fill the hole with more status and more stuff never works. Our students today — especially those at elite schools where they enjoy so much privilege and frequently come from so much privilege — are the epitome of that.
Capitalism has produced a tremendous amount of material value that has lifted billions of people out of poverty, radically decreased infant mortality, radically increased literacy, radically increased life expectancy, exponentially decreased hunger and made meaningful progress on every metric you can think of. But it’s also based on an underlying notion that if you could just have this one thing right now, then you’ll finally be happy.
The problem is, the thing — whatever it is — never really makes you as happy as you expect. You get used to it pretty fast and then you need another thing to fill the hole (this is known as the hedonic treadmill).
Rather than leaving our students grasping to find something to identify with — often resulting in absurd outcomes like supporting terrorist groups like Hamas and fundamentalist regimes like Iran — let’s give American kids purpose. Service should be a requirement to graduate from any college that receives any form of public funding. It should become a normal part of becoming an adult.
The service has to be something tangible — working in homeless shelters or soup kitchens, cleaning parks, volunteering at nursing homes and senior centers, tutoring students — not joining some group promoting social justice and spending all day protesting and tweeting. College students need to learn what it’s like to directly serve others, to be part of a team, to work towards a goal with true societal value where they can actually impact the outcome.
In the most recent World Happiness Report, Israel — a county under continual existential threat — ranked 5th globally. The U.S. was 23rd. If we just take people under 30, the U.S. would be 68th. We’re the richest country in the history of the world. And we’re still only 68th. That tells you everything you need to know.
Virtually every young Israeli Jew has to serve in the military. When I invest in an Israeli tech startup out of my venture capital fund, everyone I work with at the company has already performed military service. And guess what? They typically have more perspective. They are calmer. They are happier. Why? Because they are part of something much bigger than themselves. Their lives have meaning. Here at home, ours all too often don’t.
This country feels desperate because there is a fundamental lack of purpose across society. The despair we see on social media, the skyrocketing suicide rate, the opioid crisis, the increase in gun violence, the loss of trust in institutions, the lack of faith in our leaders is all the product of living lives filled with material abundance but empty of meaning.
It’s why our campuses are erupting. It’s why our unhappiness is soaring. It’s not going to stop when Israel and Hamas agree to a ceasefire. It’s not going to stop when the school year ends. It’s only going to change when we give our young people the tools they need to stop grasping desperately for an identity — and start living meaningful lives.
Tusk is a venture capitalist and political strategist who runs the Mobile Voting Project.
