All my life, I have been classified as a “millennial.” It really is a beautiful word to adorn someone with; it makes me feel unique and special and a little warm inside. I can smile at my employer when he/she hires me because he/she sees a list of Millennial traits written on my face, conspicuously placed there by the wonderful people at LinkedIn (among others).
I always get a kick out of this particular list when I read it. Here it is for you all to see, written on my smiling millennial brow:
We are all apparently...
- Multitaskers
- Connected
- Tech-Savvy
And we all allegedly want...
- Instant gratification and recognition
- Work-life balance and flexibility
- Collaboration
- Transparency
- Career Advancement
Man, that’s just beautiful; there is absolutely nothing better than hearing from other people who I am and what I want. I understand the simplification – I’m sure many intelligent social historians and human resource (I hate that term) experts have come to these conclusions after a lot of work and study and research. They've come forth with the great labeling device that academia seems to yield at different points in sociological history. But take this device away from me!
And yet I loathingly concede that a lot of this is pretty true for your average person… which is the exact reason that my point articulated thus far is merely tangential. Thankfully, I have come to realize that we may not be the Millennials we have for so long been labeled.
According to Wikipedia (give me a break; I have a lot of homework), nobody can seem to agree when the millennial generation ends. Gallup Inc. uses the dates 1980-1996; Ernst and Young uses 1981-1996; Time magazine uses 1980-2000 and the United States Census Bureau uses 1982-2000. Either way, if you are my age (born around 1997) you stand with me on the cusp of two great demographics: the Millennials before us and the uncertain, uncharted, unlabeled future. Where will you fall?
Who are we? Shall we ascribe to the characteristics of our predecessors? Or shall we create ourselves anew? I use “shall” instead of “will” intentionally: it is our decision – it is your decision. What will you be? And will you listen to those who would contradict your self-definition?
Maybe I just hate that some old people can tell me and my employers what my strengths and weaknesses are. Maybe I’m just a kid who doesn’t want to listen to his parents. Maybe I’m a rebel without a clue. Maybe I’m overreacting to people who just want to make it a little easier for other people to understand yet other people – to think just a little less.
Or maybe I stand upon the romantic ideology that I am an individual before all and therefore cannot slide into a mold cast by people who have never met me. Maybe I want to, along with my fellow intergenerational misfits, cast my own mold and choose my own characteristics. Maybe I want to stand before my potential employer as a sovereign Being who exists independently of what a scholar would write upon my brow.
