This hasn't been the best of weeks. But today, my fuse has blown.
Let's have a chat - you and me.

So...let's begin with Generation X. These are the children of basically the 60s and 70s. They grew up learning of "free love" and seeing the hippies run around while tripping on acid, as well as the tragedies of numerous assassinations and would-be assassinations of people actually trying to make a difference in the world. These are most of our mothers and fathers. Then came my generation - The Millenials. We're also referred to as Generation Y, Gen Y, Igen, Echo Boomers, or the Internet Generation but, to keep things simple as to the time frame of our births (1980 - 1995), I am a Millenial.

We grew up with our parents, teachers, guardians, et cetera telling us we were special, we live in an age of privilege, and we can do whatever we set our minds to doing. "Look at how far this nation has come," they'd say. "We can only imagine what else can be accomplished."


This mindset ingrained a sense of purpose for us - that we can change things to make this world even better.
We set our goals higher, and we expect more from ourselves and the world.

There is always a downside to everything, however, and this cuddling by our parents, the way they made a big to-do about every little thing that happened to us, made us lazy, self-centered, and to be quite frank, quite snobbish and unrealistic. It suggested that we deserve everything to be handed to us on a silver platter. Why?


Well, just because!

And when we don't get exactly what we want, what's the best plan of action?
Run to Mommy and Daddy.

Yes, yes. Mommy and Daddy will make everything better.
Our parents would clean up every little mess we made.

I'd like to modify that last statement to de-emphasize little.

Granted, I am guilty. I've fucked up a few of times in my years even though I'm still of a tender young age - not even legally allowed to drink. And my maturity level is nowhere near where it needs to be because I've always had mother to clean up my messes and tell me it'll be okay. "I know that teacher was being unreasonable, baby. I'll go and have a talk with the principal..." or "Those kids were making fun of you?! I'll go talk to their parents. Don't you worry about them anymore..."


Shielding me from anything that would somehow taint my innocent little brain and idealistic view of the world, tough love was nowhere in her vocabulary back then. But as with everything, time has its way with us, weathering our faces and hardening our view of the world. Notice, though, that I'm not blaming her. She had nothing but the best hopes for me. But I'm not just the product of my age now. I'm grown and am now contributing to a new age. An age where children ride their bicycles in the middle of the street, push their friends in front of cars, make detailed plans of how to murder their teachers, and, in essence, rape the world.

"You're either with me or against me" is the motto now.
And I am blaming my own generation.

We had the highest rate of teen pregnancies. I once heard a saying that went "Just because the plumbing is in, doesn't mean the house is ready." And it makes sense. We're still naive and quite ignorant. We're a generation that has all the book smarts the world has to offer, but on common sense we are wanton. We don't censor ourselves in front of the children or keep tabs on them. And while we attempt to raise them as our mothers and fathers raised us, we are unable to. The morals our parents instilled in us have gone out the window because children do not do as we say...They do as we do. And with our motto of "I want what I want when I want it, so fuck you" is not something children should be learning.

Of course, the rates of teen pregnancy have gone down due to the fast action of Generation X upon seeing this epidemic. But the children are still here and need to be corrected...quickly.

I pride myself on being an optimistic pessimist in an apathetic shell. It's why I enjoy writing so well. It gives me time to watch, listen, and ponder over the numerous theories and ideas floating around in my head and in the world around me. All is not lost. As our generation matures, hopefully we will be able to live up to the standards that our parents have set before us.

But to make change requires action.
And I feel that we aren't doing enough at the moment.

There are other issues that need to be discussed with my fellow Millenials but I feel the most important thing that should be dealt with is the premature generation we ourselves have created. And to change them, we must change our attitude.

Until next week...

"The thought manifests as the word. The word manifests as the deed. The deed develops into habit. And the habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care. And let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings." -Bodhisattva Guatama (Buddha)