This week I had the privilege of being exposed to some phenomenal young people. For me, anyone under the age of 35 is young. I know I’m getting older because I have the tendency to be a bit more judgemental about this life and times. Some days, I just sound like my Dad. I recall my parents shaking their heads and stamping my future with the seal of doom. Why wouldn’t they too? We were the Woodstock Generation, hippies with long hair, crazy hobo clothes, and strong opinions about everything. The establishment, politics, love and sex. The flip side, my generation also brought with it peaceful protest, woman’s rights, and a level of prosperity which we proceeded to spoil our own children into the art of materialism and the good life. My complaint has been the way children have grown up today, with a lack of positive attention from parents that are both too busy working and accumulating stuff, having too much of that stuff, and expecting too much stuff. Good manners and appropriate language have been replaced by music lyrics which can downloaded as either clean or explicit. (Seriously... does this contribute to the quality of the music?) A work ethic has been replaced by entitlement. (I’m not working for $10.00 an hour while I gain some experience and wait for the economy to improve.). And, a need to be the center of attention (Hey, the Kardashians became celebrities just by being over the top obnoxious). I see our evolution has created a “next generation” of selfish, entitled, rude, relatively lazy, narcissistic.... heathens! Pretty strong words, but that was what I was beginning to see all around me.
I live in a smaller town. I don’t always get out to the see the bigger picture. Many of the younger people that remain in these little ponds, aren’t exposed to the big world of opportunity and possibility that lies beyond their limiting borders. Sadly, per capita, welfare, drug addiction and crime are rampant here. When you haven’t witnessed all the nuances and variety of the big oceans out there; full of different species and terrain, there’s a tendency to remain in the safety net of what you know, rather than explore possibilities and take some risks. Sitting in a limited comfort zone of mediocrity and routine doesn’t lend for blossoming and growing into change makers. I don’t think the economic times have been kind to these small towns either in allowing for creativity and opportunities for the young people growing up in them, but that’s a post for another time. Bah-Humbug to this spoiled younger generation I thought.
I had to take all of my negativity about our future resting in the hands of Generation Y back this past week. I had the privilege to have lunch with a small business owner and his team of professionals. This young executive, began his career in sales and marketing post college graduation. After being dismissed rather unkindly and suddenly by a non-profit he had worked for a number of years, he reinvented himself. In his 20’s! He started his own business a few years ago, combining his love of technology (his generation is also called Generation C - for connected), and his experience in marketing and advertising. His advertising and web design company is in demand in the non-profit sector as well as throughout the area. What sets him apart is his personal attention, finding the hot buttons that will best promote the business he is working with. His youth, and understanding of both technology today, as well as advertising make his sites popular and profitable. His growth over the last few years has been phenomenal and he has added computer programmers, coders, and web-designers to his staff, all under 30 as well, and has recently moved to a new, larger location.
It doesn’t stop there for me this week. God must have sensed I needed an attitude adjustment to my negative view of the younger generation today. I got so much more than that. I got an inspiration infusion. I am in awe.
I took a closer look at one of the young women who babysat my little granddaughters for the past 10 years or so. She has been a part of the family really and a tremendous mentor in their lives, It’s always been her goal, while in College even, to change the world. She’s bravely traveled, and experienced new cultures for the better part of the last 5-6 years. Last year, she took a teaching position, through a Christian agency, in one of the most depressed parts of the United States, the hollers of Kentucky. This young woman makes less money in a month than a minimum wager makes in a week. It’s been a tough road for her, being so far away from a family she loves, her friends, and inspire children whose goal in life is to follow in their parents footsteps and get on the rolls (welfare). She simply feels called to be there, do her best and let God use her. No anticipated outcomes, just a prayerful request to perhaps help one child to learn and maybe instill the desire in them to change their own world, by giving them some tools.
One of her fellow College graduates is moving to Nepal to teach children there who have known nothing but oppression since birth. More than 10,000 woman and children are trafficked across the border here every year. This amazing young lady knows knowledge is power. She wants to help bring learning and love to these people because she also knows enlightened people begin to change a country and its culture.
Whenever I think of world changers, my dear young friend from Chicago comes to mind. She has decided to apply everything she loves to a new business. She’s an artist, an educator, and a hostess with the mostest. Her new educational gallery has hosted fundraisers, bridal shower painting soirees, and provides lessons in engaging creativity. She's worked hard, taken a huge risk, and has never been happier in her life. She truly feels she can move others by helping people to understand what the arts can do to change perspectives and encourage divergent thinking in a linear oriented world. She also knows what the arts can do to change the life of an underprivileged child.
Young adults changing the world, taking risks, putting others first, creating their own adventure.... that is what I was blessed to see this past week. So, maybe the Boomers and Generation Y aren’t so different after all. Or, maybe we see what we focus on and my horizon needs to see beyond the sunset of my small town.
“It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope” - Robert F. Kennedy
I am beginning to believe that has nothing to do with what generation we belong to. It just spills over, one generation to another, into the heart of the world. WooHoo.
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