Finding meaning in life

It was Samuel Huntington who observed that in the post-Cold War world, flags count because culture counts. The end of the 20th century saw the demise of the ideological, multi-ethnic empire, and loyalty to ideology gave way to loyalty to historical identity.

That most ancient of human needs, making and sustaining mutually beneficial relationships with one's compatriots, is the starting point for discovering one's identity. Here's a Wake Forest professor who's investigating the benefits of ethnic identification for young people:

A new study by Assistant Professor of Psychology Lisa Kiang has found that close ties to an ethnic group foster a positive sense of meaning and purpose in adolescents.

"This sense of meaning in life is, in turn, associated with high self-esteem, good academic adjustment, healthy social relationships and other beneficial effects," said Kiang, who was the lead author of the study, published in November in the online edition of the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Kiang's study is the first that pinpoints meaning and purpose as an explanation for why ethnic identity has such a positive effect on other aspects of adolescents' wellbeing, she says.

She studied 579 Latin American, Asian and European-American high school seniors and found that adolescents who felt strongly connected to their ethnic group also expressed a clearer sense of meaning in their lives than adolescents without close ethnic ties.

Psychiatrist Lynne Jones, in States of Change: A Central European Diary, wrote:

"Nation can be one aspect of identity that enhances our sense of self, adds to the enjoyment of difference, increases our possibility for participation in public life, and enriches the world community."

In other words, actively embracing heritage is essential to being human. The blaring, endless distractions of modern life make us forget essential things sometimes, and we often have to re-discover what we have lost -- or what has been taken. It's good to have guides to show us the way.