Millennials
I know a lot of people who would be instantly triggered by reading just this title. Bear with me.
I’ve been pretty angry at the news articles, blogposts, and sermons alike that all pointed fingers at the flaws of Millennials. Some of them, to their credit, have some merit. Yes, our culture is weird as hell and just straight up dumb at times (looking at you any of the numerous Youtube “challenges”). But most of them are about how we’re lazy, can’t hold a job for more than a few years, can’t save enough to buy a house, and live with no purpose in life.
Activity/Jobs: Have you seen any of our resumes? Have you seen how many jobs we’ve had to hold to even be considered for a position, only to be turned down because there was someone else who somehow was even more qualified than us? Let’s compare resumes and we’ll talk about who is “lazy”. I worked a co-op between college semester that had 12 hour shifts, often 7 days a week, that were in confined spaces breathing in rust, secondhand smoke, and possibly asbestos. It consisted of hours of grinding pipes and taking measurements and getting paid next to nothing in terms of livable wage. I know that’s a rare job, but I just want you to tell me if you or anyone else you know actually had a worse job than that or ever worked that hard in your life. I’m waiting.
Finance: I don’t need to throw facts about this because I think enough has been said about how much prices have inflated but wages haven’t followed suit. Not to mention how the average student comes out of college buried in debt from student loans, and credit cards due to the astronomical prices of student textbooks/supplies/campus food/housing. We literally celebrate when someone in our generation pays of a student debt. So going off that and considering the inflation of housing…how do you think we’ll be able to afford a house in this economy that you’ve put us in?
Intelligence: At some point you have to step down from your high horse and understand that if you applied to college by today’s standards, you would be WELL below average even by community college standards. Believe it or not, our generation is LEAGUES more intelligent. What you say that we can’t do basic things like cook, do chores, do laundry, change our oil, change a tire, (all of which I learned myself anyways) etc, is because we were focusing on doing well in school, working jobs, and doing extracurriculars because that’s what we were told was important to companies on our resume. Because nowadays, we need to hold about 3 different positions before we can hold any legitimate full time position. I tutored kids who were learning the basics of coding/programming in middle school. If you don’t understand how incredible that is and how much of an impact programming will have on the future of our society, then that in and of itself has proved a point. We’re hella smarter than you.
Funny thing is, my dad is not an example of the old generation who just bitches about the youth. Because unlike you, he actually worked his ass off to get where he’s at right now. He went from owning next to nothing and barely being able to afford rice, to owning his own business, buying a house, and sending off his two sons to college. He joined the U.S. military for a few years and met his wife, who was a civilian worker for them. From there, my dad, with just a high school diploma, started his own mechanic business and worked diligently for the past 20+ years 6 days a week, averaging almost 10 hours a day, eventually getting his U.S. Citizenship. So if anyone has reason to complain about how the younger generation is lazy, poor, and unable, it’s him. Yet he doesn’t.
Conclusion: Those who’ve never hustled don’t understand the hustle. Before you say a word about Millennials anymore, take a good look at yourself and what your generation accomplished compared to what ours has already done and has the potential to do.