When we hit middle age, that’s when most of us start reminiscing. We think about the good old times and compare our present life to the past, and our treasured memories make us often believe life was mostly better back then.
I have read posts and articles written by older people, who talked about the young generation today. A certain wisdom comes with age and with it often comes an arrogance that makes us assume we know it better.
What about the young people today, the ones who were born when a new century began? What do they think about their life today? To be honest, I often felt sorry for them, mostly because they wouldn’t be allowed to have beautiful memories like mine. They wouldn’t get to know the good old times, the past that I sometimes cherish so much.
I read a quote from a young author in her 20’s and what she wrote made my heart ache.
“Millennials:
We lost the genetic lottery. We graduated high school into terrorist attacks and wars. We graduated college into a recession and mounds of debt. We will never acquire the financial cushion, employment stability, and material possessions of our parents. We are often more educated, experienced, informed, and digitally fluent than prior generations, yet are constantly haunted by the trauma of coming of age during the detonation of the societal structure we were born into. But perhaps we are overlooking the silver lining. We will have less money to buy the material possessions that entrap us. We will have more compassion and empathy because our struggles have taught us that even the most privileged can fall from grace. We will have the courage to pursue our dreams because we have absolutely nothing to lose. We will experience the world through backpacking, couch surfing, and carrying on interesting conversations with adventurers in hostels because our bank accounts can’t supply the Americanized resorts. Our hardships will obligate us to develop spiritual and intellectual substance. Maybe having roommates and buying our clothes at thrift stores isn’t so horrible as long as we are making a point to pursue genuine happiness.”
― Maggie Georgiana Young
Reading this made me sad. I never thought about how they must feel or how they might look at their world. Life is not easy for them, that’s for sure.
I think the one thing I struggle with as a millennial is the constant millennial bashing. We’re apparently too lazy to get on the property ladder, too serious, too snowflakey unable to stand up for ourselves, unable to interact in a social environment…It’s a bit exhausting. But I do think we’re lucky in some respects. Backpacking has become a popular holiday choice as it far outshines tourist resorts with its rich exposure to culture. As a result, the world has become more accessible.
I’m a millennial. We don’t have it any tougher than our grandparents generation (who were born into the Great Depression, raised during the Second World War, and had to raise their own families during the Vietnam War).
It’s easy to blame my struggles on societal forces. But that’s lazy.
I work a 9-5, making a modest income. In many previous generations, buying a house wouldn’t be a problem. But banks are tighter with their money and want double assurances of my ability to weather instability or even catastrophe. So I don’t qualify for a mortgage. It’s not that I don’t have enough for a down payment, my income simply isn’t enough, even though I’m a responsible citizen with impeccable credit.
Complaining that society has screwed me in this situation would be irresponsible.
The rules have changed, no doubt about that. But I still have rational thinking and imagination. And imagination is something that millennials apparently pride ourselves on. I’m a little frustrated with my peers (granted, a minority) who insist that previous generations blighted their capability for success. That’s lazy and unfair.
I appreciate your empathy. But please don’t feel too badly for this young woman, or for my generation. We’ll figure it out. We’ll screw up and pass on hardships to our children as well. But there will always be opportunity. As long as we pass on creativity coupled with rational thinking and principled decision making, we, and our kids, will be just fine.
I too fear that the world we are leaving for our children is in much worse shape than the one we baby boomers were born into. The main reason i have to hope that they can improve it is some of the positive signs I see from some philanthropic billionaires and some advances in technology that I hope will not come with negative consequences.
Many of us feel that way. I wouldn’t want to trade with the young generation these days.
Very true – but she has kept her heart
Interesting. In the last week alone, I have three times had to defend the generations X, Y and Z from older people who persist in thinking they are mollycoddled and don’t know what work is. Their lives are fragmented in a way ours rarely were, so to the generations who worked 30 plus years from 9 to 5 in one job these generations seem to live a butterfly existence. But they didn’t choose this. They are coping with a world that is changing at an unimaginable speed and adapting as best they can. We avoided debt, they have no choice but to live with it. I have great faith in them, and when they get the power that will eventually be passed to them, I think they will make a better job of it than the current incumbents.
I think we all have our issues. The photo above of everyone sitting around staring creepily at their own little worlds and grinning creeps me out. We used to either all tell jokes or play music or even TALK to each other, and go out to bars or dance places, or food places, and those were memories that lasted, of hanging out with friends or people we dated. I am so glad for me personally that I will be unlikely to look back and say, “OMG, that meme about that cat was the best thing I saw in my 20s” or something.
<— end of the boomer generation. My family was poor, and therefore the challenges the Millennials face aren't new to me; but the horrible wars and rumors of wars ARE. I lived through the end of Viet Nam, saw the Gulf War and Iraq and all these subsequent lapses in good judgement come to pass. I've seen terrorism. The most startling difference between the millennial and the generations before them is computers and the internet. I had a conversation with two millennials working in my cell phone store, and they both said they didn't know the world without computers. Couldn't really imagine it so. I think that's the biggest divider between us and them…they experience the world in a whole new way.
Maggie’s comments are so devastatingly accurate. We are leaving the world much worse off then we received it.
It shocked me as well. While not agree with everything, much of what she said stung.
I think every generation views others with the same rose-tinted glasses. Not all of our life is good, nor is it bad, but some just have a tendency towards selective perception. Us oldies (I’m 64) have lived through more of it, and it doesn’t leave me with much sympathy for her view, which is to my mind based on a narrow and limited experience. Maybe in 40 years’ time she’ll have learnt why I say that!
Of course her view is limited due to her life experience. Of course our generation doesn’t like what she has to say, our life was the worst, today they have it so much better. Just like my Grandmother had to walk to school uphill -both ways. 🙂
That’s exactly what I mean. Maybe we should all be more grateful for what we have – it will certainly make us happier if we think that way 😊
I am with Cindy on this one. We should leave the world better for the next generations not worse.
Funny, I’m gen x and have never stayed in a resort. I have had debt problems. I’ve bought clothes at a thrift store. I watched the start of the first gulf war when I was 16 and dare I mention the IRA? Seems the only thing this person is missing is the ability to look outside their own bubble.
Goodness what generation am I? Fossil I suppose, the 60?
Baby boomer goes up to 1964 then it’s gen x after that to 1979.
Fellow fossil!
Haha 🙂
Funny, but the way she described her life sounds very much like the way mine has gone. Doesn’t sound much different than a gen x’er or a baby boomer, other than college being a worthwhile endeavor in the past. Just seems like a huge waste of money now. Otherwise, war and terrorism and no money and debt aren’t new struggles.
Terrorism was an issue when I was a child back in Europe. Here in the U.S. the terror attacks ans mass shootings happened mostly in other countries and we read about it. The American dream was very alive for me and my husband and my college degree was worth something. That’s at least my memory of the time when we were young and crispy.
To be honest, I wouldn’t want to be young right now and I pity the Millennial and future generations.
When they’re in their 40’s and 50’s they’ll feel the same about the next generation. But they’ll be fine. Whether they think they will now. I worry about what my boys will face in their lives. But they’ll figure it out. They won’t have a choice. 😏