“Parents who wonder where the younger generation is going should remember where it came from.” ~ Sam Ewing
We millennials are walking a knife’s edge. On one side is the valley of success, which comes with its own share of burdens to outperform our own selves and break our own records. On the other side is the dark abyss of failure, and if we fall in it, there’s no saving our generation from the backlash and criticism from older generations. So then what do we do?
As a generation, we’ve managed to teeter, somewhat satisfactorily, this narrow line of success and failure. For some this achievement is commendable. And yet, some see this success as coming very easily to our generation because of the times we live in.
Smartphones, the Web, Google, our revamped rights and everything we’ve managed to do with what has been given to us are not seen as proofs of our intelligence. Rather, they’re perceived as advantages that have made it easier for us to lap up this success, as opposed to previous generations who had to “work for it”.
Now remember this phrase, because it matters in the big picture that you’re about to see next.
British concert pianist James Rhodes recently tweeted a screenshot of a Facebook conversation, where the user commented on how kids these days aren’t smarter, they’re just lucky.
According to this person, millennials have everything laid out nicely on a plate instead of having to work for it. Alright then!
Okay, now as a millennial myself, I felt a tad bit affronted by this proclamation and if you did too, hold on to your horses! There was a savage reply to the comment; not some random baseless trolling but legit reasoning!
O.U.C.H!
You come on a millennial’s playground (social media) and insult that millennial and expect to get away unscathed? No sir!
So awesome was this response that even J K Rowling couldn’t help but retweet it!
Twitter was all over this, defending the younger generation from the overly harsh criticism of the older generation.
It started off the usual way, with people hooting for this class act that was the reply.
1. Hello, Burn Unit? Yeah your services are needed!
Somebody call the fucken Burn Unit! https://t.co/CbvzOZjUJu
— Odaeng (@missusredpants) March 18, 2018
2. Because that reply was FIRE!
Someone should call the coroner. That person was burnt to a crisp pic.twitter.com/at5O9rB4Hc
— Ramiro olmos (@olmosramiro) March 18, 2018
3. A round of applause, because deserved!
— Silvi (@silvianatoader) March 18, 2018
Several others jumped in with their arguments, tearing the comment bit by bit and beseeching the older generations to just stop giving millennials such a hard time.
Each generation has its own boons and curses. Give them a break, please?
1. The Baby Boomers had it easy, TBH.
“Having it on a plate” the ability to work one job, pay for everything you need for your family, buy a house and send your kid to college .. baby boomers “had it on a plate”. Ugh.
— Brandi Thompson (@awesomebrandi) March 18, 2018
2. It takes cleverness to get things to work for you.
https://twitter.com/DetcFarenhill/status/975478970840993798
3. Yeah, what’re you even thinking?
Adults always say kids are the future.. But call us dumb when we step up to change our world.. How does that work? https://t.co/wuDXR6zGb2
— One Sad Boi (@BryanLeeArroyo1) March 19, 2018
4. The present always looks worse than the past….
I might be completely off, but I have the feeling that we tend to judge past times based on their top performers but the present based on the average performers. The present thus always *looks* worse than the past
— David M. Gómez 🏳️🌈🇨🇱 (@dmaxgomez) March 18, 2018
5. Adults, shushing us millennials down all the time!
https://twitter.com/RyRy_Underwood/status/975336422365450241
5. Yeah, why can’t you feel proud for us instead?
https://twitter.com/AranRees/status/975332053062430720
6. Disturbing!
They are the next generation and some adults don't think they are valuable. It's really quite disturbing. https://t.co/UlozeGuei4
— d.a.n.d.e.e (@sunnydandee) March 18, 2018
7. Be nice to your children and watch them flourish!
What if kids are smarter than ever *because* they have more opportunities. And these opportunities include the mass realisation that if we are *nice* to our children, they learn better!
— Natalie Windsor (@nataliwindsor) March 18, 2018
But it wasn’t all one-sided defense in the comments under Rhodes’ tweet. The other side of the argument was fairly represented too.
Not everyone was being offensive though. Some of them seemed to make a fair point.
1. Someone thought the observation was rather accurate.
https://twitter.com/lebeehyve/status/975447457671688192
2. If only the brilliant mind of the yester-years had a similar opportunity to reach their fill potential?
But… the first guy is right. How many brilliant minds of the past never reached their full potential because they didn't have as much access to information and education as we do today?
— PBF (@This_Here_Girl) March 18, 2018
3. It’s life, it’s just better than it was before.
These kids today are strong, brave, and intelligent. They indeed have greater access. But are they better than previous gens who fought? Women who got us the right to vote were beaten, jailed, and force fed through a tube for speaking out. Life is just better today for all.
— NancyFiserpaVinden (@Uneeec) March 18, 2018
4. If you have opportunities, take advantage of them. And that’s what millennials are doing. Why criticise them for this?
I mean millennials being on the rich list was impossible before, since millennials are only now becoming adults. 😂
It is true that we have way more opportunities compared to previous generations. True, we aren’t smarter, we just take advantage of all that is open to us. 👌— Michaela (@Macallla) March 18, 2018
I was always told that when the situation is dire, even a scholar would be more prudent to choose smart study over detailed study. And that’s what millennials are following, right? Being smart about the resources they have!
What do you think?