The silent generation.
Baby boomers.
Gen X.
These generations have all had their time in the sun, but there’s a new flock on the horizon, the millennials.
Millennials are the most diverse, tolerant, connected, educated, and idealistic generation ever, as we all assume. Or the most narcissistic, lazy, entitled, coddled, distrustful, and disconnected, as hard working, skillful, and resilient, these are adjectives that have never been used to describe the millennials.
Despite the tech proficiency and high level of education, we are most downwardly mobile, debt-ridden, unlaunched, unmarried, unchurched, and apolitical.
As the first downwardly mobile generation in modern history, millennials have less wealth, lower household income, more debt, and higher rates of poverty than their parents’ generation had at the same stage of the life cycle.
I see a generation that is perpetually in transition. I see a group of young people vested in their own self-actualization. We are rapidly transforming ourselves to adapt to a world where the conventional structures of the past are being exposed as institutions with rotten foundations.
I see people who want to have sex, connect and relate in a loving way with others, but cannot offer anyone their commitment when they themselves are still in flux.
I see both men and women who are diving into our growing pains in a way that those who came before us haven’t.
I see people who don’t want to take out their own unresolved emotional issues on others, who don’t want to get wound up in the kind of co-dependent relationships that are created when we think someone else will fix our problems and restore us to a sense of wholeness.
Marriage for millennials is not a capitalistic endeavor. Mainly because a lot of don’t have any savings or assets to merge with someone else. For us, marriage is not considered the end goal, the only path to a life well-lived.
Maybe this stance makes us selfish and immature. Maybe we’re missing out on the blessing of having an ally, through thick and through thin, in this unpredictable time period. Or maybe, when we do decide to “settle down” and start families, our relationships will be healthier as a result.
And we, as a nation, are divided by the very system that’s intended to hold us together. Identify as conservative? Boom, right. Liberal? Boom, left.
And all they seem to do is grow further and further apart. In the end, how can we fully stand behind a party that we only partially support? More important, how can a bird expect to fly with just one wing?
This country was built on the ideals of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” However, we live in a world that doesn’t always make it that easy. We face challenges from war, debt, poverty, civil rights—you name it.
Yet the biggest challenge of all is that we don’t believe in our own political system to create the change we need. And we’re tired of the empty promises that it will.
Despite our lack of faith, millennials care deeply about the future of our country.
This is the point in my life where I questioned if there are any advantages to being a Millennial in today’s world.
Stereotypes portray us as entitled, lazy, and idealistic. Many of us entered the workforce during a down economy when job opportunities were limited.
Once we got a job, we began working alongside generations with decades of experience, which makes us feel like complete amateurs. So, are we living it right?
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