Our Choices, Our Demons

The youth of today have been blamed for being a wasted and totally lost generation, no one has ever cared to listen to their side of the story. Are we really that lost?

OUR CHOICES, OUR DEMONS

By Orinde Hillary

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Project X, with its promise of a hedonistic experience to the souls who have otherwise attended it has drawn the ire of the public. The discussion of how wasted my generation is has been rekindled.

 

 The loud gurgling noise of how we have been so successful at moral decadence; Generation Y is a lost generation. So repeated has the claim been that it is slowly fading into a meaningless and trite claim. Are we really that lost?

 

Apparently, we are not like our parents. They had a plan. They did not just get jobs, they had careers. Routine and caution earmarked their times. Claiming to be raised in an environment of great depression, societal upheaval, challenging authorities, wartime, they still had a dream for us. They wanted their children to prosper and never go through hard times.

 

It is in this wake that high expectations were set. The next generation was poised to have an easy environment. We were meant to be socially and morally upright.  Sadly, we are having a harsh awakening to realities.

 

Within us the previous generation created the struggle to find happiness and fulfillment. We want to make an impact in the world. We were however, not prepared on the energy and time needed to fulfill that desire to do well. This has acculturated into the impatient beings we are. We never see past our noses. Anything fun is welcome news.

 

It is in this respect that the modern world has shortened the length of our attention span in almost every aspect of our lives. We maintain multiple text messages in lecture halls. Click on different web-pages if the current ones load slowly. This has given a feeling that we have a sense of entitlement.

 

 It is unfortunate though, our wires sometimes get crossed and the wrong behaviors surface. Pots of shisha, alcohol binges and drugs bring to light the carelessness of acts in some of us. Pre-marital sex, unplanned pregnancies presumably struggle to highlight the legend stories that we will leave behind. I believe every other generation has its fair share of flaws.

 

Despite all this, within us there is overwhelming optimism. On the flip side of the phone addiction, we are positively connected and communicate quite differently. Our generation gives little care to each other’s tribe, race or even sexual orientation. This quite spells out good times for our country ahead. Tribalism will no longer be a major concern.

 

We millennials are considered service-minded, success-driven, goal oriented, lifestyle-centered and opinionated. What will these mean to the politics of this nation? The country will see better leaders who can deliver and will be under a constant spot and check. It will be intriguing to see how we will use the voice to lobby for worthy courses.

 

One of our mantra has been ‘work smarter, not harder’. It has brought with it great prospects. We continue to bring great developments and innovations in technology. I bet a spark in your life has been added through the concerted efforts of our generation. Hitherto, these efforts go unnoticed when the grand generalizations of our failures are made. 

 

Even as we self-evaluate our behaviors, help us deal with the shortcomings of our generation. Proposing a host of measure to improve our cohorts will do great than constantly whining of our failure. Mentor us rather than playing the supervision role. Embrace the change, we are not going away, we will only grow through your advice. The nagging only breeds rebellion. We are not rude; we often just want the rationale behind things to be explained.

 

May we not get lost- lost in centuries old traditions, lost in outrageous expectations, lost in obsolete rules, the basis of the unfounded allegations that we are a lost lot. Kindly, listen to our side of the story instead of merely expecting compliance. My generation still has a lot to offer.

 

The greatest liars of this world have always propagated how the world of today and before is a rotten place. So while there is still some oil left to drill, some good to reap from our generation, let us not turn a blind eye to it. We all have a responsibility to stop moral decadence in the society.