I read an article recently that actually posited that not only are millennials lazy participation-trophy-addicted whiners who can't get their faces out of their phones long enough to breathe, but that they aren't even as cool as we were! This was scientifically proven by listing the 5 coolest bands of our youth, compared to the 5 crappiest pop bands you can hear on the radio during a commute, and voila! See! It's so obvious!
This argument has the substance of a ricecake, so isn't worth smashing except for two things: if you're comparing what you hear on the wireless to what the whippersnappers are streaming, you might also be using a sundial; and if you still think being cool is important, or a valid metric for judging people, you need a therapist even more than a Spotify account.
I know a stack of millennials, and they compare favorably to the cynical and avaricious sellout-wannabes people my age were in the 80s. I know them to be hopeful, hardworking, deeply compassionate people who learned something valuable from the participation trophies. Participating is important. The team matters. I don't know any who are lone-wolf-y types who take their ball and go home if they can't be the star.
Because they didn't get hammered with messages that they couldn't do things, they believe they can. And they do things, like fight for the rights of people who are different from themselves, and start Gay-Straight Alliances even if they can't get administration support. They build support networks online when none exists offline, and they find ways to fund new projects and ideas when the old financial structures lack interest or imagination. They're so hokey- they try! And because they have seen so many ideas crash or evolve or rocket to obsolescence; they don't wilt like hothouse flowers when something doesn't go their way, they drink some coffee and try something else.
I believe we are at the dawn of a golden age I may not live to see, but I believe it's coming if we get out of their way. (And if they find a workaround to the end of the antibiotic window. Maybe they should get on that...)
And another thing...
Lately the news is bad. I hear this: "People suck." "I hate people." "I have had it with people."
The guy who jumped on the truck in Nice to try to stop it, giving the police the opportunity they needed to shoot the driver... that guy does not suck.
The people who surrounded the baby stroller in Dallas during the shooting. They also don't suck.
The scores of people who line to give blood after a crazed, horrible individual decides to murder as many people as he can, also do not suck.
Until we can bring people back to life as easily as we can end life, the impact of violent sociopaths will appear larger in our rearview mirror. But it's an illusion. What's worse, it's a willful illusion, because almost no one thinks, "People, including myself, suck." And it's not like 'they never report the good news,' because the stories of the non-sucky people were ubiquitous and easy to find.
If the logic of "This Muslim is a terrorist, therefore all Muslims are terrorists," is stupid and cruel and makes the world a worse place, then surely "This psychopath caused grief to many, therefore all people are terrible" is not the route to ending the wrongheadedness that got us here.
Whew. Time for a drink.