Materialism Becomes Moralism

I see a young man, about 25, wearing ripped-knee-levis and a graphic t-shirt that references an 80's cult classic movie via a humorous quote. He's got Chucks on his feet and white earbuds hanging out of his ears. He is wearing a knit stocking cap slightly askew and too loosely to actually provide thermal insulation. In short, he is cool. He strolls down the street, preoccupied with the Grace Potter's cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit."
At an intersection he stops and waits for the "walk" sign. Next to him, and elderly woman drags two bags of groceries. Spotting her, he reaches out and touches her arm, then asks "how far am I carrying these for you?" She gives him the groceries and then takes his arm and he helps her across the street. People smile as they see the two, though bystanders cannot possibly know if the young man and the old woman are related. At her front steps, he gives her the groceries, and a hug, and continues on his way, though switching to some Eddie and the Tide song from The Lost Boys soundtrack.

What I envision is a counter-counterculture, where the coolness that my generation derives from materialism has been augmented by a coolness derived from moralism. How to create this scenario is not something I can possibly describe here; I am still trying to wrap my head around the idea of how coolness and charity could be parallel but also how can we possibly create this world, given the skepticism of young people to buy into the idealist bullcrap that people like Bono hypocritically trumpet?
I dunno, yet. I really don't. But if saving the world was easy, we'd have done it already.


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