Old guy here. My advice: find something you really like and do that. Doing something you like multiplies by 10 the chance you’ll get good at it. You’ll have to try out a few things, which might give you the impression you are wasting your time; but it’s better to lose 3-4 years finding your way than burning up at 35 because you hate what you do.
Not OP, but I guess it shows the general loss of confidence in institutions in the US. When people wanna shoot their guns at disaster relief organizations, it indicates they don’t trust anything from the government, and the feeling is more than just skepticism, it’s heinous.