Market decline. Volatile gas prices. Deteriorating war. Historic unemployment. Widespread social frustrations.

Such misfortunes refer to the political climate of the mid-1970s, but these hazardous descriptions eerily trigger thoughts of the world today.

It seems that the turbulent decade of the 1970s — the time in which many of our parents graduated college — mirrors the world we are facing. Enduring a comparable set of burdens both to readjust student loans and scramble for jobs, while rationalizing the repercussions of a long war, our parents began their adult lives in perhaps the closest societal backdrop to that of 2009. As much as we might hate to admit it, our parents have shared an experience quite similar to ours.

In the midst of economic and social obscurity, these impediments — gas lines and the Vietnam War in particular — distinctively colored a perception that the worst was upon the American people. And there is no question that times were tough. But in challenging times the American people and American institutions are resilient — a fact we seem to forget when forging through our current crisis. I don’t call on these likenesses to impose a direct set of parallels between our parents’ generations and ours, but rather to robustly affirm that we will get through this financial calamity.

As Congress debates the approval of President Obama’s stimulus package this week, now may be the appropriate time to evaluate our contemporary monetary inclinations and the prevailing American Dream. What prompted Americans to purchase homes they could have never afforded? More importantly, how can we deflate what was a grandiose version of the American Dream? It is important to have a shared vision as a people — it gives us a unified sense of national spirit — but ultimately, it must be put in check.

How comfortable did we become spending outside of our means? How did we understand the premise of credit? I use “we” not because every American took out subprime mortgages or invested in mortgage-backed securities, but instead because our culture allowed for a financial ethos of dicey decision-making. Collectively, we spent beyond our means.

But this is not the time to dwell on the failures of our recent past. It is rather an opportunity to reconsider our values and look to the future. The foundations of the financial system have been uniquely upset, unleashing a cascade of issues unforeseen by any economist’s standards. There is no possible way to downplay the magnitude of this economic meltdown, especially considering how many Americans have lost their jobs, homes and savings. Yet the widespread nature of the recession has ultimately drawn into consideration the fundamental questions of our wants, needs and risks.

As most college students have grown up in this world of credit without a disciplined view of debt, recent events are now slowly prompting us to refine and alter our spending habits. The prosperous Clinton Years pampered our generation and encouraged more indulgent behavior. Coming of age in this climate led to a shared sense of apathy and fostered an uncontested prescience that everything would always work out fine. But this shattered naïveté cannot be ignored and as young adults, we must step up and face what is ahead of us. As Congress and Cornell alike are currently reconfiguring their budgets and priorities, we too need to actively rearrange ours. Gliding through the upcoming months would be an impossible delusion, and we should seize the opportunity to determine what now defines the American Dream.

And what can we learn from our parents? The American economy is built on booms and busts and we have gone through times like these before. Perhaps the Great Case of American Amnesia has infected our generation more so, however, and that has led us to believe that we have inherited a wholly foreign plight. Adjustments in the business cycle are an undesirable norm, and with each market meltdown or crisis of confidence we are forced to reconsider what exactly is necessary in our daily lives.

There is no question that when placed in historical context this recession and its components are unique, but the permutations in consumer behavior may not be such a bad thing. Talk to your parents about their experiences coming out of college — you may be surprised by the commonalties between our generations.

In the midst of this ongoing economic collapse, it feels like the end of the world is upon us. And maybe it is in fact the end of the world as we knew it, but perhaps that is not such a bad thing.