Hi, I'm 30; a Millennial I'm told. Probably one of the youngest people on this forum. I hope that doesn't render me unqualified to chime in.
I sympathize and concur with most of your assessments of my generation and the next. But then I'm a bit old fashioned and "old minded" as I say,
Otherwise, why would I be here on a forum full of "old guys" learning an "old guy" hobby?
I listen to the stories that my dad tells (and that my grandpa
told) and I feel like I belong in the world that they describe.
But I can't afford to adopt your mindset; I can't afford to view the world through goggles of old codgery, since I'll have to live here in the thick of it for many more decades.
Living another 50 years, ****** off by everything I see and hear around me? Looking at every man I see as an effeminate moron? Who wants to live in that?
So I am forced (it is against my nature actually) to look for the good in things and in people, for my own sanity, present and future.
I am forced to act on what I think is right, instead of just criticizing.
I am raising 3 children in the "new & unimproved" America. I am raising them the way I think my grandparents would raise them .
They get spankings, and they get them in public. Sue me.
Yeah, sometimes I put a tablet or a TV in front of them too, so sue me for that too.
I make sure they know when they've said something stupid, and when they've said something smart.
I make sure they know that the participation trophies they get at school are not worthy of praise. And I make sure they know when they've
actually worked hard, and
actually earned a trophy, despite the fact everyone else go one too.
I make sure they understand that they are children, not adults, and as such their opinions and desires will be heard but don't really factor into my decisions. And I make sure they know that as they get older things will change.
I make sure they know that privilege comes with responsibility and vise versa.
I teach them to defend themselves, and that a little bit of well timed/placed aggression goes a long way.
I enforce a code of respect and obedience in my house that their friends do not understand. Their friends think I'm a crazy person.
My kids are the most well behaved kids you will see these days. And when they grow up (at or before age 18 hopefully) they will have the world at their fingertips.
They will not be burdened by any entitlement and they will not have the weight of all these "feelings" holding them back.
They will know how to seize opportunity and how to compete in scarcity. They will be the few strong amid a sea of weakness; they will be leaders, producers.
This is me doing my part to steer us (the nation) back toward a logical path.
And you know what? It might just be me seeing what I want to see, but I could swear I see more and more other people my age doing some of the same things!
That's right, I think I might be witnessing the slow birth of a new wave of old ideas.
So don't give up on us just yet. I think WE (the millennials), or at least enough among us, are waking up to the fact that the course we're on is ...(drumroll for the buzzword)... unsustainable.
Enough among us have realize that complaining and begging only get one so far.
Enough among us have realized that the world is rife with opportunity, up for grabs to anyone with the brain and/or brawn to go out there and make things happen.
To close out this little diatribe, I'd just like to point out that a lot of the gripes that have been aired thus far are not new gripes:
On common sense being no longer common:
Common sense is not so common. -Voltaire (1694-1778)
On phones and tablets in everyone's faces:
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On millenials being lazy:
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." -Thomas Edison