Let me tell you a little something about Millennials.
As a teacher I meet a lot of them. As time goes on I realize that few can claim to really know more Millennials then me and my colleagues. And honestly, as a teacher I feel we have more of a daily right to be annoyed with them as a whole.
I often hear people complain they’re shallow or callous, distracted or lazy. They’re entitled. I can see where those people are coming from. What they’re missing is the fact that they’re also far more emotionally intuitive, worldly, authentic, discerning, and awake. These kids come into a world with it all at their fingertips, and just as easily and obviously slipping from their fingers. They are raised by a bunch of dinosaurs who complain about the very behaviors some have wallowed in for decades - many who are still essentially grappling with the fact that the only constant is change.
I hear people grumbling about the “differences” between this generation and theirs, citing participation trophies and some lost art of spanking as somehow related our troubles. They just don’t seem to ever look in the mirror as they do this. The violent fury they learned early is so deep it’s right there in their angry words, disgruntled thoughts and tortured souls.
These kids may have been rewarded for participating, and they do get discouraged quickly in a world that prizes only the elite, unnatural, or extreme. This kids inherited a world built as a house of cards, on the backs of turtles, saved by a dead man on a cross, or a fat guy purported to eat grain of rice a day. We hammer children into seats for hours during the most energetic time of their entire lives. We shove endless piles of random “lessons” their way, argue over STEM or arts, script or coding, analog and judge whether they interpret those lessons exactly the way they were expected to. Who learns like that? We’re miserable and grow even more miserable when they won’t tolerate misery. Ours is a ghost world we keep trying to sell them, but we charge too much and we give too little. Whether it’s in the name of science or religion, our time is up. We failed big time.
But theirs is now. And failure is how challenge and evolution work. Is a participation trophy such a bad thing? Is there something wrong with rewarding those who show up? Is it wrong to value presence? Effort? We all have an inherit existential choice, and we made ours consciously or unconsciously for us. Is it no wonder they value their own immediate gratification? This generation doesn’t need your dusty old God or your minute incremental successes. This generation knows there’s only one thing anyone is ever guaranteed, and that’s right now. Isn’t that all we’ve left them?
It sounds dire, but it’s not. This generation doesn’t wallow. This generation doesn’t wait. This generation gives back what it’s given in energy, attention, and love. These guys love beauty and they see it in more than Barbie dolls or gas guzzlers. They follow no canon or even movie that doesn’t grab them. They’ll grant you the respect you deserve, and they judge that for themselves. This generation sees right through the lies you’ve told yourself. And they open up just as much.
