My Generation

      Another day, another handful of negative missives bitterly complaining about the Millennial Generation. We are rude, arrogant, know-it-alls. We wear awful cloths, have too much education, too little education. We are too over-zealous and driven at work, while inexplicably lazy and entitled at the same time. If there is anything wrong in the great wide world, or just in our own communities, apparently it is totally and utterly the fault of a generation who ironically lacks any sort of power, position, or wealth. If the devil and anti-Christ were summoned, the first to be blamed will be the generation of 80 million, 18-33 years, if we are not already the devil and anti-Christ combined. These negative screeds are not only churlish and childish, sometimes they are so off base I am confused by the disgust our parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and older cousins possess towards us.

    I not only take these personally because I am a millennial, but because I fall into the older bracket of the generation who experienced the brunt of the economic downturn. If you are shaking your head at my "entitlement complex" shake away. You are right, no I did not lose a house, or my retirement fund. And no, I did not have to declare bankruptcy or get my boat repossessed. And you know why, because I probably will never have the opportunity to acquire all that, especially on credit. What I lost was my job, the ability to be at a place in my career I deserve, any sort of respect from my Millennial hating mentors, and most devastatingly the idea of safety and security within our great American economic sphere. So here I sit, in one of my multiple jobs, looking at a younger generation and hoping it works out better for them. They they will not get cast under the tires of the run away bus like I did at 26. That my generation or anyone older will not disparage them at every turn, mocking their dreams and desires as that of a the lesser. Constantly degrading anything and everything associated with the time period they were born, while grouping everyone together as bad apples.

    I work with a lot of and am clearly friends with many 18-33 somethings. What I have seen from them is the importance with which they value their family and friends.Valuing experiences over their next BMW, and lets face it, they are not the ones making the decision to lay-off workers over unsustainable profits for shareholders. I see young lawyers who, yes are driven by doing what they love. Passionate teachers and coaches who leave their all with those they influence. I know millenials who proudly create new tools and technology. I see marketing analysts and human resources managers who get up every day like their older co-workers, loyally providing for the company they work for, regardless of how loyal the company is to them. Furthermore, I see young mothers and fathers who are ridiculously attentive to their children, their health, and the betterment of this world.

    What I do not see are poorly dressed slobs, who demand something for nothing. I do not see soulless drones who text and tweet their way through the day. The only entitlement I see is the demand for respect and that is not something so strange. I mean for God's sake, I am 32, married, own a home, a car, have multiple jobs, pay back my student loans every month, is there nothing good about this? Is it so offensive to want a little bit of respect? Or my friends who have children, and live a generally good and loving life. Is that not respectable? We go to church, we don't go to church, we have homes, we rent, we go on vacation and visit our families and vice versa. You get what I am saying, it is not so different from Generation X or the "'tweeners" or Baby Boomers. What I see less of are articles written by millenials complaining about how the Booomers left us with massive loads of debt. How the tweeners ran amok in our economy like bulls in the proverbial china shot. No, we are a forward facing generation and I am sorry, but not sorry that we want to move forward and do better. Not just for ourselves but for our children and others that come after us, because we are not so shortsighted to see that an indictment against them will be an indictment against us. So, the next time you older generations take to you computer to tackle the "problem generation" remember who was at the helm of everything in our most formative years.