A More Liberated Way of Live Comes from Today's Generation

Dr. Tantan Hermansah
Lecturer at the Faculty of Da’wah and Communication, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta

There is something slowly disappearing from the space of human interaction today: resilience. It is not merely the ability to keep moving forward, but the courage to stay on one path even when the world offers countless shortcuts.

This resilience is the essence of what I call commitment.

Commitment is the aggregate marker of maturity; a vow that may not always speak aloud, but is deeply bindingon one's soul. Yet today, it feels like a heirloom stored away in the attic—remembered but no longer considered necessary.

As a researcher of social relations who studies the main foundations that uphold society, I observe this phenomenon no longer as an exception; it has formed into a pattern.

Commitment, once born from spiritual depth and the rationality of responsibility, is now treated as a burden. If it can be avoided, it will be discarded quickly to escape from its weighing nature.

Thus, there is no longer a genuine effort to finish what has been started. What remains are digital traces of unfinished intentions and a series of unspoken questions.

We see this in many form. At my workplace, there are cases of students who switch majors repeatedly—not because they chose the wrong field, but because they cannot endure a steep learning curve.

There are lovely couples who break up because they are no longer on the same page, though they never truly tried to 'read' each other.

Employees quit after two weeks because they are no longer vibing with their job.

All of this seems normal, even supported by neatly packaged narratives of false positivity: “follow your heart”, “if it doesn’t make you happy, why bother”, “if it feels like a burden, leave it”.

There is nothing inherently wrong with freedom of choice. The problem arises when choice becomes an escape.

When commitment is seen as a trap, not a way of life, it turns into a momentary relationships, jobs, and even faith.

There is no process of internalization and formation, but swapping the cover without ever reading the book to the end. How tragic.

The problem is not just individuals giving up too quickly. There is a cultural current pushing us to keep shifting, tasting, trying, but never truly delving.

In today’s fast-paced world, staying the course can appear slow. Consistency can be labeled boring. Therefore, those who remain loyal are seen as lacking creativity. Those who finish what they start are considered outdated.

In fact, history is not shaped by those who start well, but by those who stick to the very end.

Galileo’s commitment did not grow from merely staring at the sky, but from his courage to reject submission to the Church's dogma.

Kartini is remembered not for a single letter, but for her perseverance in speaking her voice out loud through writing when others chose silence.

Every great figure, in their own way, has taught that what makes a person memorable is not their loudest act, but their most enduring stance.

Unfortunately, we are facing a generation taught that everything can be replayed, canceled, or replaced. Nothing is truly final and sacred, just another brick in the wall.  

Marriage is viewed as an emotional contract to be reevaluated at any time. Job agreements can be ignored for a more viral opportunity, though second chance might not have come in the future. Even pledges to the nation and noble values wane when algorithms dictate otherwise.

The consequences are not trivial. When commitment disappears from the collective vocabulary of a generation, what becomes fragile is not only interpersonal relationships, but also the very foundations of society.

We are heading toward a weak civilization, easily swayed by short-term desires, and incapable of building anything that lasts. For anything grand and meaningful is always born of sheer commitment.

Imagine a nation suffering from a generation who are unable to commit for the simplest thing, it would instantly lose its best inventors and thinkers who keep the value intact.

There would be no leaders resistant to temptation, no teachers patient enough in guiding their puplis, no volunteers help the poor. There would only be those losers who show up when bright and leave when rain.

For me, this is not merely a psychological or lifestyle issue, this is a matter of our society. Commitment is the invisible thread binding humans to promises, responsibilities, each other, and even to history.

When that thread snaps, it is not just an individual that drifts away, but the entire social fabric.

Commitment is the highest form of social trust. And once that trust collapses, what remains is a society fractured within, despite its outward noise and busyness.

Perhaps we need to ask ourselves again: Why start something if we don’t intend to finish it? Why say “yes” if we cannot stand tall when the storm is approaching, provoking our inner self to surrender as the black cloud circling our thought?

And why live in this vast universe if not become a part of something greater than ourselves?

Times may change and technology may advance, but commitment—once lost—is difficult to regrow. When that happens, history will not record our success in creating a better world, but our failure in preserving it for tomorrow.

(This article was originally published on kompas.id, Monday, July 21, 2025.)