"Everybody talks about the entitlement generation. There is no time I would rather live in than now. ...There's a tendency to live in a nostalgic state in this country, and think that other generations possessed an integrity and a tenacity better than the generation that is now. I wholeheartedly disagree with that, and I believe this is a group that will rise up to any challenge that comes before them, as well as any other generation in America would have done. My advice to them would be to please don't think of me as an entitled moocher when I'm collecting my government benefits."
- John Stewart during recent Internet-held debate with Bill O'Reilly
I get caught up in the mentality that John Stewart is describing here myself time and again. The mentality that today's younger generation is somehow inferior to mine and the ones that came before it. I know when I fall into that mindset, I'm not alone. I hear and read others stating as much in no uncertain terms all the time. Often, these statements are derogatory and mean-spirited. They're delivered in an attempt to humiliate and echo a certain amount of disgust. They're meant to illicit an "Oh, hell yeah" reaction from others reading them who agree. "You're damn right. Today's younger generations are an entitled lot of slackers who don't want to get a job. Who don't want to feed themselves. Who don't to move out of ma and pa's basement. They'd rather sponge than earn."
I start to kid myself into believing that current generations really do lack the work ethic and drive that my generation possessed. Until I take the time to remember all those people I've crossed paths with along the way who were my age and older who didn't like to work so much themselves and therefore didn't.
I tell myself periodically that kids today do lack respect. Until I start to think back on some of the kids I knew who didn't have a problem with breaking a principle's window in the dark of night or throwing eggs at random houses or breaking mailboxes or stealing from the downtown dime store or worse.
I start to convince myself that today's younger generation is more concerned with meeting their own immediate needs than helping the community progress. Until I live through another election and am reminded yet again at just how drastically far apart people belonging to all generations really are where helping all mankind vs. doing for me and my own is concerned.
I start to fool myself into believing that current generations want everything handed to them right from the start without paying any dues. That they've been babied and cuddled. That we've strung so many medals around their necks for just participating that they don't know how to truly compete or truly strive or how to really, really want something so badly they'll do anything it takes. Until I wake up and realize just what my generation and others handed today's youth. The environmental messes. The climate messes. The diseases. The earthquakes and tsunamis. The oil spills. The debilitated economies. The rapidly disappearing natural resources. The rapidly disappearing animal species. The polluted waters. The terrorism at home and abroad. The gulfs in race relations and religions and sexuality still.
I realize how drastically different an educational experience today's younger generations have and are having compared to mine. How they're pushed and pulled to "catch up with the world." How they have homework for hours after school after sitting in school for the equivalent of a work day. How they're pushed to specialize. Hone in. Pick up a discipline. How they're encouraged to take a career path before they know what careers are out there. I was a good student, but I rarely, if ever, did homework for an hour, let alone several, on a consistent basis after school. I never felt as if college was out of my reach because I was going to put myself or my family in deep debt or spend decades paying back loans for the mere prospect of actually landing a job I'm qualified for.
I never felt as if the problems my peers were being asked to solve were literally being counted upon to save the world and ensure the future of my children's children. To rectify irreversible climate damage incurred by generations who ignored the warnings. To bridge the gaps between the classes that is tearing the country apart currently. To learn to live in an increasingly corporate world where "the America dream" arguably has never been more difficult to obtain.
I don't know. When I stop to think about today's younger generations, for as many things that I might not personally like or wish were different, I know how misguided such beliefs are in reality.
- John Stewart during recent Internet-held debate with Bill O'Reilly
I get caught up in the mentality that John Stewart is describing here myself time and again. The mentality that today's younger generation is somehow inferior to mine and the ones that came before it. I know when I fall into that mindset, I'm not alone. I hear and read others stating as much in no uncertain terms all the time. Often, these statements are derogatory and mean-spirited. They're delivered in an attempt to humiliate and echo a certain amount of disgust. They're meant to illicit an "Oh, hell yeah" reaction from others reading them who agree. "You're damn right. Today's younger generations are an entitled lot of slackers who don't want to get a job. Who don't want to feed themselves. Who don't to move out of ma and pa's basement. They'd rather sponge than earn."
I start to kid myself into believing that current generations really do lack the work ethic and drive that my generation possessed. Until I take the time to remember all those people I've crossed paths with along the way who were my age and older who didn't like to work so much themselves and therefore didn't.
I tell myself periodically that kids today do lack respect. Until I start to think back on some of the kids I knew who didn't have a problem with breaking a principle's window in the dark of night or throwing eggs at random houses or breaking mailboxes or stealing from the downtown dime store or worse.
I start to convince myself that today's younger generation is more concerned with meeting their own immediate needs than helping the community progress. Until I live through another election and am reminded yet again at just how drastically far apart people belonging to all generations really are where helping all mankind vs. doing for me and my own is concerned.
I start to fool myself into believing that current generations want everything handed to them right from the start without paying any dues. That they've been babied and cuddled. That we've strung so many medals around their necks for just participating that they don't know how to truly compete or truly strive or how to really, really want something so badly they'll do anything it takes. Until I wake up and realize just what my generation and others handed today's youth. The environmental messes. The climate messes. The diseases. The earthquakes and tsunamis. The oil spills. The debilitated economies. The rapidly disappearing natural resources. The rapidly disappearing animal species. The polluted waters. The terrorism at home and abroad. The gulfs in race relations and religions and sexuality still.
I realize how drastically different an educational experience today's younger generations have and are having compared to mine. How they're pushed and pulled to "catch up with the world." How they have homework for hours after school after sitting in school for the equivalent of a work day. How they're pushed to specialize. Hone in. Pick up a discipline. How they're encouraged to take a career path before they know what careers are out there. I was a good student, but I rarely, if ever, did homework for an hour, let alone several, on a consistent basis after school. I never felt as if college was out of my reach because I was going to put myself or my family in deep debt or spend decades paying back loans for the mere prospect of actually landing a job I'm qualified for.
I never felt as if the problems my peers were being asked to solve were literally being counted upon to save the world and ensure the future of my children's children. To rectify irreversible climate damage incurred by generations who ignored the warnings. To bridge the gaps between the classes that is tearing the country apart currently. To learn to live in an increasingly corporate world where "the America dream" arguably has never been more difficult to obtain.
I don't know. When I stop to think about today's younger generations, for as many things that I might not personally like or wish were different, I know how misguided such beliefs are in reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment