Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Every Generation Has Their Own Groove On


I write young adult fiction, and through research of something completely unrelated, I discovered the Millennial Generation.  (Okay so I was asking my nephew questions about friendships between guys and girls today, and he told me about this.)  Like most generations, who these young people are, born roughly between 1980 and 2000, grew organically out of their life experiences.  Most of them heartbreaking and tragic.

Their parent’s spent 90% of their time at work to give them, well, everything.  Then our economy exploded at the end of 2008.  Parents were immediately fired and employers gave themselves four million dollar bonuses.  The Millennial child was told, if not immediately, then eventually, your life is now going to change now; drastically.  

“I’ve just lost my job, your college savings and my retirement,” parent said.  “I’d mortgage my house for you college expenses, however, all the equity I’ve built over the last ten or so years is gone.”
“What did you do wrong?” Child asks.
“Nothing.”
“Why did this happen then?”
“Greed.”

Somewhere during that conversation these children decided that’s not going to happen to them.  They will not stay in a job that don’t like.  Their friends are more important than anything.  They keep in touch with their parents on pretty much a daily basis which is easy because their bedroom is located in their parents home, even after they’ve graduated college.  

Oh yes and their parents are helicopters/overprotective.  The reason for this is 9/11, Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold and Seung-Hui Cho.  Mom and Dad became more protective of them.   They became more aware of the fragility of life.  The fact that friends brothers and sisters came home in a box from The Iraq War, adds to their vulnerability.

All of this makes the idea of 8 to 5, in a job they hate out of the question.  They see no point in living life without passion and love.  

I’m interested to see what their family habits will be as far as finding a spouse and having children of their own.  I wonder if it will be more of a community effort with technology to assist them.  They may not be the richest generation.  I hope from the bottom of my heart that they are the happiest.

No comments:

Post a Comment