We are all Millennials

I gave birth to a Millennial.  I know that because The New York Times, The Washington Post and Fortune Magazine told me so.  My child is between the ages of 21 and 30, 24 and 34, and 18-36.  My nephews are Gen Xers - 10 and 16 years her senior.  Their children are Gen Zers (which means they learned how to use smartphones before they were potty trained).

But I have news for you - we are all Millennials in today's world.  Oh, yes -  we want what we want when we want it.  A Burger King, Starbucks and Build-a-Bear lifestyle. Nest Security "curated" from a smartphone. We are all impatient to get it right - to make it work for ourselves, our way.

Have you noticed that all the brotherly and sisterly love we embraced during Pope Francis' trip evaporated in the next traffic jam or "detained" subway service?  We are all Millennials: in a hurry, overbooked and underpaid for the nearly unlimited access we give to each other (time-wise) every day (texting, FB and networking obsessively).

One of my students expressed the mood of our culture in one word: expediency.  Right on, Kassandra (her real name).  We are all time-hacking, in one way or another, to fit into 24 hours more activities than can realistically be accomplished - well.   (Oh, you say, you can do it?  Hmmm . . . check in with your children, boss or clients about that? How many times were you late? Cancelled? Or unprepared? Not fast enough, my dear?  Not efficient enough to transition from one task to another? Did you not get the memo that multitasking is a myth promulgated by MBAs in Management Training?)

The younger Millennials, 20-somethings, are not that different. Not really. They are overextended and anxious about what to prioritize: work, love or play.  They too are  fighting to just keep going, one step at a time. To feel authentic, strong and ready to take on the world.  They yearn for a better future, like the migrants/refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Libya and so forth, who are waiting to dig their heels deeply into a stable existence - a place to call home.  We feel for them as they suffer through their arduous journeys.  And we can identify with them to some extent, as we all are struggling to improve a global culture fraught with dislocation and disconnection.  Almost all of us benefit from the wonders of the internet and mass communication, but most of us are deeply dissatisfied with the status quo.  We want to move on from this point in human history.  (I think the Pope's visit brought that into clear focus.)

We are all Millennials - seeking a better life than we have now.