Gen Y- Really That Bad?

So, depending on who is writing the article I am either a Gen Y or Gen Xer. Either way, my generation is shit.

If you have bothered to read anything else I have written (and if so, THANK YOU!) you know that I work with much older people.  By much older, I mean old enough to be my grandparents.  Every once in a while one of these older folks forgets about our generational gap and sends out one of those "here's why we hate this new generation"  mass emails.

If you haven't gotten one of these yet, let me sum them up in a few lines.

"Gen Y- As in Y should I have to work? Y do I have to pay my own way? Y can't the government take care of me."

"The Greatest Generation knew how to save.  We lived through the great depression.  We knew how to do without.  We fixed things.  We respected our elders.  We (gasp) would never be caught dead showing our boobs, butt, ankles, etc. out in public."

This battle makes me think about the whole "Elvis Effect".  Here is a guy that was really quite docile by today's standards and yet when the youth of that day revered him their elders flipped out.  They were certain Elvis was as bad as it could get!  Now people who feared "the pelvis" are more afraid of  breaking a pelvis. 

Here is a Gen X/ Gen Y/ Me Generation/ Millennial's view on the whole old versus new thing.  Both generations have their many, many faults.  While several Baby Boomers and their parents fought for civil rights and integration, many more fought against it.  Gen X and Gen Yers are much more tolerant of people who are not exactly like them.  We prefer love and kindness over hate and intolerance.

We are, as a whole, more materialistic and self absorbed.  However, what can someone expect from us?  We grew up with mother's who had to work for financial, not just personal reasons.  Yes, we were given trophies for participation and yes we had much better toys than the older generations did, but we also suffered significantly more pressure.  Our bullies had much better "weapons" than those of the Greatest Generation, we had school shootings, we faced unbelievable academic pressure.  So, getting a trophy for dragging our exhausted, over extra-curriculared, cyber bullied butts out of bed and onto the baseball field is really not that big of a deal.

Every generation has its problems, but let's be honest the old problems don't go away they are just compounded as time goes on.  The Greatest Generation dealt with wars, so do we.  The Baby Boomers faced social injustices, so do we (though based on other things, not just race).  The Gen Xers had overworked, exhausted parents, so do we.  They may have had wars but our wars are televised with little or no censorship.  With increased information comes an increase of emotional distress.  We know more, so we feel more. Even if we will never see any type of battlefield.

The difference between Gen Y and the older generations is that we are unwilling to repeat the mistakes of our parents.  Perhaps we should be called "The Learning Generation." Unlike those before us we refuse to let our kids feel bad about themselves because they got a "B".  We care a great deal about having the financial resources to NOT have to rely on Social Security since we know it won't be around.  We forgo obsessive, mind numbing jobs in favor of starting our own businesses.  Though we want to be wealthy we don't want it enough to jump into an early grave whilst our children attempt to find any kind words about us at our funerals.  We may not be as concerned with what our place is in the community but we are very concerned with our place in the home.

What Gen Yers know that previous generations didn't is that we are truly alone.  Sure, a Baby Boomer or Silent Generation stay at home mom found friends, but could she truly be herself? Would a woman of those generations really be able to talk to these friends about her husband's drinking problem?  Would she be able to disclose how his womanizing and occasional slaps made her feel about herself?  Could she get divorced without losing many or all of those friends?  Yes there may have been a greater sense of community but that community was only a community if you completely conformed to their social mores.  Gay people did not have a sense of community.  Divorced women did not have a sense of community.

There is a story that reminds me of how lucky I am to be born into this selfish generation.  In 6th grade my science teacher (a member of the Silent Generation according to my calculations) talked about how he went to a friend's house for a sleep over.  There were a total of 6 or 7 boys at this slumber party.  He said that the mothers of the other boys took turns showing up unannounced to check up on their sons.  These moms were calling each other constantly and running surveillance on the house because the mother hosting the slumber party was (gasp) divorced!  These women (probably some of her friends before she dared divorce) were just certain that she was letting the boys run wild being that she was obviously of loose moral character.  My teacher lamented that the boys got no sleep that night, not because they were having fun, but because they were always worried who would be the next shrew to come in and embarrass her son in front of his friends. 

If that is the behavior of the "better" generations then I am honored to be a self absorbed, money hungry, over educated and entitled jerk.  At least my generation doesn't kick a poor woman when she is down.  We are just a bunch of silly kids who believe that everyone should be entitled to civil rights, a living wage and a certain amount of personal happiness.  We must really be crazy!