Millennials Seem Driven By A Non-Purpose Life ~ “Old Man” Editorial
Millennials Seem Driven By A Non-Purpose Life (Editorial)
by Andrew Tuttle | Contributor | Faithwriters.com
In 2004, I knew a young man who jumped on the Boston Red Sox bandwagon, much like so many others that year. In the months and years following the team’s first Championship since 1918 this poor guy grew exceedingly desperate to be a part of that which he couldn’t.
Red Sox Lore.
He’ll never know what it meant or how it felt to live through years of hope and decades of perpetual disappointment. He won’t experience 1986. Or 1975. Yaz to Clemens. But believe me, he tried. I once overheard him tell an uncle a story that was thoroughly fabricated including erroneous facts he could have verified via a simple internet search. That’s how bad it got.
And I’m not talking about an 8, 9 or 10 year old boy trying to impress an elder. He was nearly 22 years old and continues his obsession to this day. He wanted to be the life of a party he just stumbled upon.
Quite simply, he coveted something bigger than himself.
On April 15, 2017 Berkley Police in Berkeley, CA arrested 20 people in a violent protest. Of those, 17 were of “millennial” age.
On May 2, 2017 Portland Police in Portland, OR arrested 25 people in a violent protect. Of those, 23 were of “millennial” age.
On June 4, 2017 Portland Police in Portland, OR arrested 14 people in a protest rally. Of those, 11 were of “millennial” age.
Sometime last year it was decided that certain statues that have stood for longer than most in this country have been alive needed removing. I’ve seen the photos of the protests. Not a lot of people over the age of 40.
There’s a small flaw to the class of 2009 for the high school in my town. You see, one of the valedictorians who spoke at the graduation ceremony didn’t belong. Someone else deserved this graduate’s spot. Apparently, this valedictorian received a grade that proved the difference between valedictorian and just another graduate. So mom bullied the teacher into raising the necessary grade thus guaranteeing the valedictorian spot to her child who did not deserve it.
So what’s jumping on the Red Sox bandwagon have to do with removing really old statues have to do with rioting at Berkeley have to do with some graduate who got honors he didn’t deserve?
A lot, actually.
Slavery ended 150 years ago. Women’s suffrage was established almost 100 years ago and the civil rights movement occurred before I was born. I easily escaped Vietnam and we haven’t had a major war since.
Thank you Baby Boomers and those who came long before me.
Today, Millennials have nothing to fight for because past generations did and continue to do all the fighting. It’s human nature to want relevancy, is it not? Floating through life having everything handed to you stirs up desires to accomplish something more, I would think. Ironically, it was Millennials who propelled a homeless looking man from Vermont, promising the world at no cost, nearly to the White House.
Conversely, the parents of Millennials were raised by somewhat hardened Americans who saw death, feared nuclear annihilation and witnessed a movement that finally brought equal rights to all Americans. Larger than life issues I missed out on. I’m OK with that. I’ve never felt the need to concoct something in my own life to make me feel relevant unfortunately Generation X didn’t pass along the same integrity that made the Greatest Generation.
It’s a curse Millennials suffer from, and their parents to blame. We gave them too much as kids. So now, Millennials look for relevancy.
Humans are always looking for the next exciting thing or be a part of, aren’t they? It’s what we do. We’re always looking for something to attach ourselves to, or find some kind of meaning or purpose to our lives.
Millennials seem to buy into this more than any other generation. Plenty of articles detailing their narcissism exist and growing up on Facebook created a cesspool of attention-getting that constantly needs filling. Look at me! I’m involved…they proclaim.
Thus, whenever the media decides something is gigantically important like finally seeing the Red Sox win after 84 years or that unfettered racism continues to rule American life all these youngsters jump on the bandwagon because they finally found a cause to latch onto propelling them into the history books. So they think.
Sorry, but if you missed out on history – like years of disappointment rooting for the Red Sox before watching them win the World Series or the cultural changing Civil Rights era – well, enjoy your youth. Cause, right now, that’s all you got. But no, what better way to be a party of history than lie to yourself. After all, if you’ve grown up on Facebook and stake a claim to 1,000 “friends” you’re kinda, sorta lying to yourself.
America elected a black man twice to the presidency. Media mogul and black woman Oprah Winfrey hosted the most popular daytime talk show in history and no one argues that a black man isn’t the greatest basketball player of all time. Seriously, what ethnicity is paying through the nose to routinely watch five multimillionaire black men run up and down a court against five other multimillionaire black men? Cheering them on.
I think the battle was won long ago.
But somehow those in their 20s believe things have gotten worse. Statues that have stood for eons must now come down in order to correct the wrongs of the past. Even Jon Foreman, singer for the band Switchfoot, held some sort of online open dialogue on race, religion and reconciliation. I’m sure he meant well but talk about fighting the fire while feeding the flame.
Removing statues or throwing bottles in the name of who knows what won’t eliminate slavery because it already ended. It also won’t usher in the Civil Rights era because it’s not the 1960s. Did anyone under 35 even know who David Duke was at the end of July last year? He’s a relic! Just watch, once the media stops pushing the current bandwagon movement they’ll all be on to something else.
Think I’m wrong?
Remember the war cops everywhere raged on black citizens a few years back? What happened? Do you really think Sacramento is the first to host a police officer who shot and killed a black man since then? Oh, a white woman was killed but to very little outrage. Study Millennials close enough and you’ll find a very predictable generation of children desperate to be a part of something they feel passed them by. Is racism really that big of an issue anymore? No, but guess what? The more things change, the more they stay the same. Twenty years ago we were talking about racism and the New York Times said it wasn’t an issue, so did nine out of 10 black teenagers. And, we’re to believe we’ve progressed backwards?
Racism sold newspapers back then, today it collects clicks.
YES!, racist people exist. So do adulterers, cheaters and people who kick puppies. They always will. But to say white kids on a bus heading to school routinely throw eggs at the black kids walking to school is absurd. Racism is a condition of the heart and man can try as hard as he wants but we’re never going to eradicate sin in this lifetime. Only one Man can accomplish that. Why then do so many sinful people think they can eradicate sin?
OK, what’s next? Most folks don’t care who sleeps with who, so that’s out. Hey, maybe Disco? How about New Wave? The cocaine war? I’m sure nose candy is next for legalization. Right after magic mushrooms. Wait! How about hating a 70 year old Republican president? Nah, that’s so 1981.
Oh, got it. Apparently Communism is the new Capitalism. You know, with Bernie Sanders and all. Might think about putting a security detail around the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Think it won’t happen? Why pray tell, does a statue of Vladimir Lenin remain upright in Seattle?
By the way, last I heard that valedictorian no longer talks to mom and dad because of how they voted in the 2016 election.
Yes, we gave way too much to our children.
… you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. –Colossians 3:9-11
