Pay Attention To The Young Ones... They Are Brilliant

Hi!

There is soooooo much going on.

It feels like a shift. A big one. Gen Z is having a coming-of-age moment. They are engaged and are demanding to be heard. They are a generation of acceptance, inclusion, and kindness. They are politically and socially aware, they are informed, they are smart, and they are willing to walk the walk. 

They are no longer the leaders of the future, they are the leaders of now. They are the generation born into school shootings, and climate change, baptized in the waters of right-wing backward thinking. They are not having it.

Even my Gen X, skepticism-infused soul can't help but feel hopeful, can't help but be inspired. 

This is a generation that has the ability and power to bring racism, homophobia, misogyny, genderphobia, xenophobia, anti-semitism, hell all kinds of hate to its knees. They are not intimidated by the powers that be. 

They don't want to have to work two or three jobs their entire adult lives just to make ends meet, and we shouldn't want or expect them to. The "we had to, it builds character, you have to do what you have to do" mentality needs a reset. 

Shouldn't we want better for those who come after us? Just because we had it tough we think that's how it should be? The fact that some wish that struggle for the generations that follow us says so much more about us than them. 

The attitude that they are lazy, or entitled is unfair. Sure some are, but you can't paint an entire generation with a single brush, with a single colour. They are doing the best they can with what we have given them. What we have given them is a hustle economy that requires 80-hour work weeks to get by. We have given them a housing market that almost ensures they will never own their own home. We have given them school shooter drills, threats to gender inclusivity, their environment, bodily autonomy and democracy. 

This generation will become the voting majority over the next election cycle or two. Thankfully. 

Pay attention to the young ones. They are brilliant. 

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May we let go of old thinking, the young are changing the world, as they should.

May we encourage the change, embrace new ideas, like we hoped our parents would. 

May we celebrate this new generation as they step into their coming-of-age.

May we build them up to be the leaders they'll need to be, help them channel their well-deserved rage. 

May we simply accept the world of their adulthood barely resembles the one we stepped into.

May we give way, we've passed on enough hardship, let's help them see this through. 

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