The Next Generation

I had a thought today about Millennials. It’s very intuitive and not based on any cold, factual evidence, but it’s a good thought, I think. Go with me for a moment.

People are always berating Millennials. It’s kind of annoying. REALLY annoying.

Technically, I am a Millennial; however, I was raised by Baby Boomers and have Gen-X siblings. I don’t really fit into any of these so called sociological parameters due to those influences in addition to when I was born. I relate more to these “xennials” than anyone else.

Whatever happened to the term Gen-Y anyway?

The way I see it, those of us born between 1980-2000 should be Gen-Y, and those born after 2000 should be the Millennials. That’s my opinion. Don’t know why sociologists changed it.

Anyway, the usual accusations against Millennials are they’re entitled, spoiled, too technologically dependent, are disassociated from history and society, etc.

First of all, there is nothing new under the sun, so older generations complaining about the younger is nothing different. Even the Ancient Greeks did it about their youth.

If you think about it, I’m certain the Edwardians thought the same of the Modernists during the first World War and afterwards through the major cultural changes which occurred in the Post-War era. Anyone watch Downton Abbey? I honestly think what makes that show brilliant was the historical commentary on these said changes and how it affected real lives, real people, real stories.

Let’s pretend for a moment the Traditionalists are the Dowager Countess and Carson and Isobel Crawley; Lord and Lady Grantham are Baby Boomers; Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley are Gen-X; Millennials are either Sybil or Rose or Branson.

It’s the same.

The cultural struggles, dynamics, perspectives which those characters, those people lived through including the momentous shift into Postmodernism are essentially the same changes the current generations are experiencing as we have shifted into a Postmillennial world.

Of course, I think the biggest difference is the Baby Boomers being those responsible for the civil-social changes of the Sixties, which were similar to those of the Twenties. It is because of this similarity I’m baffled by Baby Boomers who are so rigid, dogmatic in their staunch ideologies when they themselves orchestrated the very change which still ripples throughout our society. They’re a peculiar, frustrating bunch. I’m digressing again…

What’s unique is how quickly everything is changing. Many sociologists and psychologists attribute this speed to the technological advances of our time. I would have to agree as technology does play a huge, vital role in shaping a society culturally. However, technology itself isn’t evil nor the only component. What else, though, remains elusive to me. I have theories, but nothing worth sharing.

I think the Modernist cultural revolutions of the Twenties, which propelled us into the Second World War, resulting in a sudden return to previously abandoned ideologies and simultaneous Postmodernism, initiating another societal shift giving rise to anarchic behaviours, only leading to further change into a Postmillennial world – none of these changes have ever stopped affecting us.

The pendulum has never stopped swinging.

And it’s happening so fast, so suddenly, as the world seemingly grows smaller and smaller, gaining more and more momentum as we continue – we’ve never been able to pause or breathe or allow these changes to run its course because something else comes along, throwing society back in the other direction of change.

We’re drowning in maelstrom of cultural changes. And it’s only getting worse.

Of course, the pendulum I do not think has ever stopped swinging since the dawn of creation. The problem is the longer Time continues, the faster the swinging grows, not allowing us to embrace the effects of change, to absorb and develop them into pragmatic results instead of abstract, elusive philosophies.

So what does any of this have to do with Millennials? What was the thought which spurred this post?

Baby Boomers are scared of Millennials.

I think out of all the generations which are alive today, Baby Boomers have experienced the most effects of all the cultural changes which have occurred since the beginning of the twenty century. They were born during the fall of the Modern world, lived through Postmodernism, and now are having to watch the world become a Postmillennial society.

They have endured so much change, and they are reaching a time in their lives, more change is probably terrifying to them. Thus, instead of being open minded, they’re condescending, degrading, and finding every way to discredit us.

Furthermore, I think they see the results of some of the changes which they initiated in the Sixties, and are ashamed of the mess they made. They just don’t know what to do about it.

As a Millennial, I think what we need to do as a generation — the Next Generation, as I’ve heard us called — is grow up.

I’m serious.

We are too selfish, entitled, isolating, spoiled, whatever you want to call us. But we could be great, too.

We’re so focused on all these accusations, our faults, on how difficult it is to make a living, pay the rent and the bills, have a life we’ve never stopped to think about what good we could create. Remember the Greatest Generation? Those who endured the Depression and fought in World War II? We could be like them. We could affect change for the advancement and enrichment of society.

Only first, we have to stop complaining about all these Baby Boomers and their fingers wagging in our faces.

Some of them actually want to help us. They want to point out areas of weakness because they too had dreams and aspirations to see a world changed for the better. They just didn’t do a very good job of it, making more of a mess than they intended, and they realise that now.

However, their mistakes do not have to be our mistakes.

I’m reminded of two things: The Last Jedi and the prophet Micah.

In The Last Jedi, you see the generational struggles of the Millennials personified within the struggles of Rey and Kylo, which I wrote about at length after seeing the film. I want us to be like Rey, and stop whining like Kylo.

The prophet Micah said,

He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents.” (3:24)

I also believe we should be quick to forgive, slow to anger. In that, we need to stop indulging the accusations of the Baby Boomers, be the adults, the bigger man, own up to whatever they say (or contradict them in love, not righteous indignation), and begin mending this generational gap.

We need to make the first move toward reconciliation.

Otherwise, we will become like our fathers, and our world will suffer for it.