Disclaimer: The following is based on the observations, thoughts, and intuitions of a 21-year-old living in the year 2015. None of this contains research or statistics. So without further ado, enjoy.
If you clicked on this article expecting a quick and easy list on why I’m not entirely proud of my generation, that’s too bad! The problems of this generation aren’t simple enough to water down into a bullet list. There’s a lot more to it, and first I should put this out there.
I am happy to have been born when I was. No, really. I am. The world we live in is full of possibilities, both wonderful and terrible. The people who have grown up with me have the ability to become self-educated adults who can make the world a better place.
People say my generation is amazing and unlike any other. We were there when the internet exploded into everyone’s homes. We were there when gay marriage became legal in the U.S. We are praised as the most diverse generation to have ever come about. But are these accomplishments truly ours? What have we, as a generation, actually done to make these landmarks in history?
I remember when the internet became widespread. I was a 12-year-old sitting in school. Someone told me to go on this cool new website called YouTube. I started watching a video titled, “Random Funny S**t.” My pre-teen mind thought it was hilarious, and I told my friends. Fast forward a decade, and now I check Facebook every hour, send a few pictures on Snapchat, and browse too many internet forums to count.
It seems like everyone else did the same thing, and now we are all spending hours of our time sharing videos and commenting on them. It’s fun, and it’s simple. We don’t need to worry about anything else in life. We just need to keep stimulating our brains with a hilarious Vine!
I remember when gay marriage became legal, this summer. For years, everyone was posting about the issue. Occasionally, I would spot a gay pride parade on the news, or hear about it on the internet. Some states allowed gay marriage while others did not. Eventually this issue was taken to the Supreme Court and, voila! The gavel was slammed, and gay marriage was considered to be protected by the Constitution.
People my age cheered and said it was monumental. “We did it! We finally did it! We made gay marriage legal!” Did I do that? I thought there was a little more to it. There had been a whole century before we were born, where gay men and women struggled to become accepted by their communities. It was the generation of my parents who said they no longer had to live in fear. It was the people belonging to that generation, after witnessing all the persecution and unhappiness, which slammed down that gavel.
Sure we have been more tolerant and accepting, but honestly all I’ve seen us do was post anti-hate comments on the internet. As a generation we didn’t force the government to act. The gay community may have done so (of course, there are gay men and women among my own peers) but we, as the youth of 2015, only gave them a gentle pat on the back, a little “you go, girl!” as we continued on with our daily lives. Just because we live in a time of change doesn’t mean we’ve been making the change ourselves.
When it comes to diversity, I’ll say this. I never went out of my way to make myself two ethnicities. I didn’t go to a rally. I didn’t educate myself on the complexities of race relations. Hell, I didn’t even need to exist. My mother and father both fell in love, and now here I am. I’m Asian and White. I didn’t make any of that happen, and I don’t congratulate myself for not fitting into a certain statistic. I’m just here.
I think that’s the problem with people of my generation. We have all of these accomplishments placed on our shoulders, but at the end of the day we never really did anything. All I know is that most of us go to college, get ourselves wrapped in student debt, then complain about it. We love to point out the severity of certain issues and how it’s a serious problem in our society, but do we ever suggest a solution?
What have we as a generation done to make the world a better place? Because, honestly, all I see are people trying to get a degree to make money for a comfortable house and pretty car. We like to think we’re the saviors of the world, the champions of social justice and tolerance for all, but how can we help the world if we never actually go out into the world? How can we improve society if we never go out to help people? How can we make a difference if we can’t even be bothered to say hi to a stranger?
We’re staying in these little bubbles we make for ourselves, where we think expressing an opinion is all that’s needed to end world hunger. Day in and day out, we’re staring at the screen, going to a party to get bombed, or complaining about how whatever the hell Darren said behind your back (he’s such a jerk isn’t he? God, he’s awful. Just stop texting him so he knows you’re mad).
But it’s not all doom and gloom. I think we can be a great generation. I really do. All of the tools we need are with us, together as young adults, not at the Apple store. But before we can do anything, first we have to turn off the screen and take a good look at the outside world with our own eyes. And we should stop making such bold statements and understand we’re no more special than any other generation to come before us. It’s never been about what time we live in; it’s been about what we do with the time we have (thanks, Gandalf).
