Much has been said about the "me" generation, or Generation Z as some call it, the young people coming up into the world today with expectations wildly out of sync with the reality of life, expectations that we, their parents, unwittingly seeded in their minds while they were still little children.
Sometime in the 70s and 80s, the education establishment became enthralled with the concept of "self-esteem," a system of self-image that was somehow strong enough to determine future courses for our children. It became vogue to make sure everybody played, no matter how poorly they did so, and ribbons or trophies were awarded simply for participation. The actual level of performance was no longer really important, as those that strove for perfection were not awarded anymore than the ones that barely tried. What were we thinking?
As these young children became young adults, what did we expect from them? They never had to compete for anything, they never had to excel in any endeavor to win accolades; "You are perfect just as you are," "all you have to do is dream hard enough, and you can achieve anything at all." The watchword became "want" and "wish." There was no reaching, no working for goals, and no recognition of a goal out of reach.
On top of this, Media was there to feed the appetite for dreams. Madison Avenue makes its living on selling to dreams, and Media makes its living on selling Madison Avenue. As these same children sat in front of televisions as the new babysitter, Media fueled the dreamers, with no provision for the work that goes into making a dream come true. Just dream it, all is well, just buy this hair product, just buy this happy meal, you can't go wrong.
Our consumer kids are now consumer adults with dreams that aren't being met. Most cannot even find meaningful jobs. They go to college and get degrees in fields that have no real connection to life or living, then are crushed when they are back home with their parents, the same ones that raised them who now are telling them they are lazy, entitled, starry-eyed. What else could they be, we made them that way?
So now they slip into illness, depression. They slink off into corners of addiction and escape. Some are meeting the challenge and switching to the hard work necessary in life, but it isn't easy or nice, and whole families come apart in spectacular fashion. But even then, they leave their less adaptable siblings behind to wallow in their confusion.
Well, we made this mess; as before, it is to us to straighten it out, and by example. The older generation cannot turn over the world just yet, we have to help our children learn how to take the reigns and do the work that must be done. We have to show them what it is to work, without apparent compensation, without immediate payoff.
We have to teach the three things we didn't give our children the first time: patience, determination, and a cause larger than self.
MMG
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