FROM THE VIEW OF A MILLENNIAL

By: Caleb Poling

     They're lazy. They're superficial. They're impatient. They don't know how to interact face-to-face. They hate talking on the phone. They will never appreciate the beauty of cursive handwriting. Their grammar skills are lacking. They rely on technology too often, for too many things. They have too high of expectations for the workforce. They're selfish. Their spoiled. They are entitled. They're rude. 

     'They' meaning me. 'They' meaning you, as most people who are probably reading this are also considered a millennial. About eighty percent of my business classes focus around who we are. Professors constantly lecture me on who I am. On who we are. On a definition, though people of our generation reject labels and definitions.

     The pronoun itself is a turnoff because we instantly feel judged and categorized. Though personally I don't like the grouping of people like that, sometimes it's the easiest way to discuss these types of things.

     What I find most interesting is when past generations are the people discussing and analyzing this generation. They have overanalyzed so many of our actions, and neglect to read into other things we do. People might say we like distance, and space, and don't like interacting with people but our actions and cravings shatter that very opinion. The people we text the most are those people in the world we have already established a close relationship with in person. The world is so congested. We don't respond to texts from acquaintances for the simple reason we are too busy. We Skype to break, or at least shield, the distance that separates us from the parents we left behind for college, the parent who went off to war, or the boyfriend who's heart is out somewhere in Virginia. We put space exactly where we want it, and we extract it from the spaces it hurts the most.

     It is our impatience that has led to some of the most ground-breaking, forward-thinking, innovative technology the world has ever offered up until this point. Perhaps the cursive handwriting is a beautiful art, but we can now communicate with people from all over the world in a matter of seconds - and that in itself is beautiful. The world is smaller, and the closer we are the more we invade each other's personal spaces, and the more we realize that we aren't so different. We're a lot a like, and there is comfort in that.

    Maybe we are the generation who takes pictures of ourselves more than any other, and maybe we crave compliments. We also give more compliments. We can empower people. Selfishness isn't unique to this generation. We believe anyone should be able to get married. We aren't selfish by thinking we can trap strangers into our beliefs. We want people to be themselves. We want them to love themselves. We want them to think outside of themselves. To break free from every adjective and label people, including our own generation, and just do what makes them feel fulfilled. By doing what makes you happy, you change everything. It's all filtered through an optimistic lens; and the world has never looked better.