Do you ever wonder what it's like to be the scapegoat for, say, everything? From the failing economy to the ridiculous hipster trends that spread through pop culture like a virus, I can honestly say that my generation i.e. Millennials, seem to be the inadvertent recipient of criticism and jaded barbs.
I was spending a couple minutes on Facebook yesterday when I stumbled upon an article titled something like "How Millennials Are Ruining Christmas." I was morbidly curious and dared to read the thing. As I read, I felt my heart slowly descending from my chest and into my stomach. I can't even say that I was insulted because, in many ways, the article had the right of things. Millennials do tend to do things differently than generations before and we do certainly test boundaries where maybe they should be tested i.e. replacing that beautiful blue spruce tree with newly refurbished green pipe cleaners.
It wasn't the departure from tradition that bothered me about the article's assertion. I'm one of the most traditional Millennials you'll ever find. I do things the old-fashioned way, especially with Christmas, because it's near and dear to my heart. I guess what bothered me was the assertion that Millennial's don't care about, well, anything.
It seems like a certain numbing quality has settled over my generation, why, I can't be exactly sure. Maybe we've gotten so used to being blamed for everything that we just brush it off to another day as us. Now, I understand that my generation has its problems, but we can't continue acting like Millennials are responsible for screwing up the world.
The problem with our world lies much deeper than one generation, two generations, or all of them in reality. My generation's accusers say we don't care about anything which sadly is partially true. However, there are two sides to every coin and I don't think that my generation is the first to contribute to a failing world.
On that note, let's look back across time. The bedrock of our world was once firm and sound and good when the Creator of the universe breathed life into us and everything we know and love. The foundations of our world began crumbling the moment we allowed sin and it's darkness to take grasp of us. I believe that same darkness still circles us, waiting for our weakest moments to strike and pull us under.
I would guess that is exactly where my favorite aspect of Christmas enters in this never-ending cycle: light. When I think of Christmas, I think of light. Lights on the tree. Lights on the houses. Lights lining the frosted streets. But more then that, I think of the Christmas star and what it means. Formed by the bodies of a thousand shining angels, the star's rays shone from one side of the world to the other and it meant one thing, the Savior has come. I care about that.
I, a Millennial, care. I will never allow the maladies of the world to tear the joy and beauty of Christmas from me because it isn't their right. It's mine. Always mine, because of His sacrifice.
