Millennials were born between the years 1982 and 2004. Our generation ranges from angsty seventh graders, to first-time voters and adults that recently entered into the workforce. Upon receiving our name, the Millennials, we were considered "the next great generation," but we haven't achieved anything yet and the question remains, will we? Due to the negativity spat in the direction of the Millennials from the older generations who control the media, we are no longer considered "the next great generation," we are the selfish, entitled, and lazy generation. But, unlike what many may think, the words selfish, entitled, and lazy are not our enemy. Greatness, that is our enemy.
Nowadays, greatness is being able to balance a perfect job, perfect social life, perfect everything. So, when people see the slogan "the next great generation," they don't picture a group of young adults who are capable of making mistakes. Rather, they read "the perfect generation" and expect nothing less. But this group, ranging from 12 to 34, made mistakes. We tripped over our shoelaces as kids, hung out with the wrong group as pre-teens, and failed tests in college. Some of us failed out of college, but that's life. Life is neither pretty, nor perfect, but it's what you make of the imperfect life that counts. Sadly, in the minds of American's today, you can't achieve greatness through imperfection. And perfection, may I remind you, is impossible for one person, let alone a group of people, to grasp. Nonetheless, greatness now means perfection, and if the Millennials aren't perfect like the older generations (sarcasm implied), then we failed.
Greatness is our enemy because achieving greatness became something superficial, instead of simple. People no longer qualify a straightforward, decent paying job that brings someone satisfaction as something that is great. Honestly, the modern perception of greatness is not designed for every human to achieve. When the older generations look at us, they don't see a great generation, they see a group populated by semi-professionals with a massive amount of student debt, minimum wage servers, and pre-teen drama queens who don't have their life together. Because we were labeled as great before we had the chance to achieve this manufactured form of greatness, we will always fall short of the expectations set by the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y.
Millennials are trying to not only make a name for themselves, but positively impact a world that already negatively impacted them. Our generation doesn't yet have the life experience to achieve this twisted perception of greatness. We are being labeled as lazy and entitled before we had the chance to prove that we might just be "the next great generation;" better yet, prove that we can redefine greatness.
