There are no wars left to fight and die over; there are no immediate and pressing world stimuli to respond to. America runs the planet, the planet runs well enough overall, and the planet is mainly made up of little brown people that nobody really cares about.
You might find something individual to dedicate to; like a marriage, or a job, or trying to have the most tattoos. Maybe you could strive to be the best parent you can be, or perhaps the best writer, or musician--there ARE a few legitimate individual dedications that you can apply yourself to. I just don't see any immediately pressing goals to reach for.
We already had Shakespeare, Edison, Einstein, FDR, Edgar Cayce; hey, Joe Newman and his "energy-producing" machine are alive and well--and out there somewhere. All we can pretty much do is waddle around in the draft of their wake, and pretend that there is something left to dedicate to. You think I'm wrong?
Okay; what are you going to invent? What disease are you going to cure? How can you help a totally selfish and greedy society that thinks the world owes them something? What do you think you can create that somebody else will not "dedicate" to stealing FROM you? Criminal actions; now THERE'S a dedication!
This generation has many problems to attend to. But since there is no central "Solutions Committee" to delegate applications, what we have are a bunch of lone wolfs working through waves of apathy and greed. Don't forget that the system is corrupt, and that these "wolfs" have to be financed by somebody. It has given me a headache--just trying to understand it.
Here's what I say: I would love to be dedicated to something. Let my country prove to me that it deserves to be dedicated to, and I will do it. Other than "protecting" my country from outside invaders--which is one of the many "individual dedications", I don't see much worth fighting or dying for; sorry.