Mirror Mirror

You know what I don't like?

I don’t like when people over the age of 40 (my peers) say, “I weep for the future,” when they see a millennial doing something they don’t understand. This world is now, has always been, and will forever be run by people who once were teenagers. This is an indisputable fact.

Maybe you think that the people running the world suck at their jobs and, in all honesty, you would find no shortage of evidence to back up this claim. But the people running this world are a tiny percentage of the population on earth and plenty of regular people make a difference every day. You just don’t hear about them because they don’t make good sound bytes, memes, or 140-character witticisms.

My guess is that there must be someone out there that you look to as a hero…someone you admire…someone you look to as a moral compass. I hope that you have more than one actually…because there is plenty of goodness if you’re looking for it and if you’re not looking for it, well, what’s the use in getting up in the morning. Anyway, those people you revere? Guess what, they were once teenagers too.

It used to make me so mad when I was in middle school or high school or college…doing the very best I could with the imperfections I was gifted…and I’d hear those words with regard to Generation X.

“I weep for the future.”

They were talking about me and I knew it. And when we say it about millennials, they know it too. I’ve got news for you, folks, millennials are going to run this world while we are still in it, and they are going to do their best, just as we have, and just as our parents did, and their parents did.  And they’ll do it based on what we teach them.

Oh...and they won’t just run the world. They will be caregivers at your assisted living facility. They will be first responders in your community. They will be pastors at your church. They will be plumbers, sanitation workers, teachers, doctors, and judges.

And they will remember what you said about them. They may even wave proof of your words in front of your face because you probably posted it on Facebook or Twitter without thinking twice. Because sometimes even you ignore your own reminders – the ones you say out loud to them – that the Internet is forever. Like Twinkies and cockroaches.

If your still not convinced that today’s teenagers really will be ok…if you’re just certain that millennials are a bunch of loafers who just sit around taking selfies all day, you don’t know any competitive swimmers and I feel sorry for you. I know about 25-30 who could kick our asses into next week, finish all their homework, ace a test or two, make their dinner, do their own laundry, and still find time to sit around and take some selfies now and then. They will change your mind…and they’re not alone. They are all growing up and growing smarter and growing stronger. They are all learning how to be adults each day and they are doing so in the face of challenges (division, distraction, and misdirection that we created and exposed them to, incidentally) that we couldn’t have fathomed when we were teenagers. And they do not navigate their worlds any better or worse than we did at their age.

And if you’re still not persuaded, and you still believe that the entire world will fall apart when left in their hands.

Just remember that you are part of the village that’s showing them how it’s done. 

They don’t do what we tell them.

They do what we show them.