The idea of the 'generational conflict' is nothing new. In fact, if you put the term through Jstor, you get 1,085 pages worth of hits - through Google, over 970,000. It's the reason why people in South Korea are starting to show signs of not wanting a united Korea. It's was a part of the tension causing the protests in Germany around 1968.

It's also why your mom telling you to wear a longer skirt out makes you so annoyed.

But this idea of generational conflict has taken on a new meaning in light of the EU Referendum held in the United Kingdom only a few short days ago. And while there are many good sources to find information about what this vote means for the UK, for the EU, and for the world (the largest drop in the pound since 1985, David Cameron resigning as Prime Minister, and the idea of the EU disintegrating as other nations host their own referendums to name a few), that is not what this article is about.

What I hope to accomplish in this article is to show how this is not a singular problem in the UK, but something happening across the globe, including our own backyard.

Cosmopolitan said it the best in their article, also featured on their snapchat story, stating the following:

Now I'm not trying to state that the older generation is by any means dumb, uninformed maybe, but the true culprit in this situation is the idea that the older generation has this ability to look back on the a time when things were 'better' and they believed the people who said that leaving was the way to go back there again.

But the truth is in life we can only go forwards. While a return to economic, political, or social prosperity is of course possible (I too would not like to live in this age of terrorism forever) I do not think the course of doing so is a retreat into isolationist and nationalistic policies. We cannot turn back the clock and return to the 80's or 90's when 'life was easier, simpler', 'the economy was better', 'people had jobs', 'no one was killing each other'. Instead all we can do is look forward and look to change our current situation for the better.

As a millennial myself, I have never know then world truly without the EU. And it saddens me to think of such a powerful organization being irrevocably changed by a decision made from emotion and not from practical fact. But what saddens me even more is that this is not a singular event that occurred just this week in the UK. This type of thinking is a disease that is pervasive all across the world - including our own back yard.

I will be honest and say that neither presidential candidate has my vote right now. I do not trust Hilary Clinton in the slightest and Trump has built a following upon the same rhetoric which is analogous to the Leave campaign. It's not younger people though who believe what Trump is saying; just like in the UK, it is disillusioned middle aged people of America who are tired of 'politics as usual' and are so desperate for a change they're willing to accept this radical rhetoric as their hope.

Well my hope is something different - I hope for a world that does not want to turn into themselves with this idea that ignoring our global partners will somehow make our nations stronger. It is 2016 - we have transatlantic flights at an affordable rate, the internet is more popular than ever. Try as we might to separate ourselves, globalization has rendered that impossible. So I apologize to my parent's generation in advanced, but I will not allow my country to make the same mistake the UK made and I encourage every other young person to inform themselves and do the same.