An Open Letter: Dear Generation Y...

Dear Generation Y,

I am writing this letter to you because I've had enough of all your bitching and whining over issues that it's about time you took some of the responsibility for. The chances you don't get, the opportunities not given to you and all the difficulties and problems that you feel you are so burdened with to the point where things must be so much more difficult for you than it was for anyone else that came before you under this not-so-new sun.

You see, Generation Y, you complain about your successors of yesteryear and how it was easier for them to be successful, yet disregard the fact that you have more resources than ever to make a success of yourself. You name it, you have it. The education, the skills, the tools... the resources to do so much without having to do as much as leave your seat, yet you waste away indulging in mind-numbing reality TV then complain about your lack of opportunities.

And with those resources you've been so wholesomely provided, what have you to show? Not only have you indulged in nonsense, no, you've took it a step further and outdone yourself; you've contributed to the mediocrity. So impatient you are that you are more than happy to impart upon the universe your sub-standard produce; blogs without substance, films that you wouldn't watch and music that you wouldn't listen to if you were paid to. And your greatest flaw of all? Your sense of false entitlement that induces failed creativity passed off as real creativity.* Everything is out there now. Work is no longer sacred. Instead, you expect everyone else to filter through all the shit that you produce and find the gems. Well guess what: with that attitude, that's exactly why nobody bats an eyelid towards your inadequacies when they can, why they've made it so hard for you to enter and why they are so reluctant to look at what you portray as glimmering gold in fear of it being a gold-painted feces. And then, when they don't respond as you like, you throw your expectations onto the rest of the world. Expect to indulge. Expect to support. Expect to share. Why not just let your work talk for you and allow people to want to?

You think those before you didn't have to work for it, is that what it is? Think that they just walked to the suits and got what they wanted? No, my friend, that's what you do. You tweet, email, LinkedIn, Facebook, harass these people with not much to give, but all to want. Were you not taught that it's rude to arrive at the table with a greedy empty-hand with little to offer?

You're not to blame. It's what X-Factor teaches you. The Apprentice. Having the same effect on your generation as The Lottery has had for years; creating an illusion that there are short cuts to having it all. That there is an opportunity for us all to have it all by doing fuck all. I told you there was nothing new under this sun, just a different skin, like the changing fascias of Nokia 3310s. 

So obsessed with the quick break. As opposed to the BIG break.* Yes, they are different.

And though my rage may have been geared primarily to that of Generation Y that seeks success within the entertainment industry, like I, in parts it is applicable to you all. For you see, Generation Y, if we step out of the entertainment industry and look more to the academic journey, is it not you who can't even do the simple task of compiling an essay from a device with knowledge that stretches the depths of the universe? No worries about having to throw away an entire parchment because your finger slipped on a typewriter, having no choice but to read entire books in pursuit of knowledge that may not be within and, to add injury to insult, you have the actual cheek to hand in something that is not spell-checked?

You see, Generation Y, I am sad to have to tell you this but in a society where time and money are our greatest commodities, we are submerged in a poverty because in all we have to offer, what lacks so much is honesty. For, you see, if we were rich in honesty, integrity, then perhaps we'd stop and think objectively before putting out, rather than being ruled by our own subjectivities. It might not have always been like this. Maybe there was a time where more was valued than money and time. You know, the beauty of produce. I think they once called it art. Where that produce would be without doubt worth both the time and money that it required. 

Dear Generation Y, I don't even know where I'm going with this and isn't that just our problem. Continuously embarking on journeys thinking we know what we want but really, we are clueless. Well, other than instant riches. But there are few men who became rich with riches as the carrot, as opposed to wanting to do something that would start a revolution of sorts by offering something new, different, however small. Maybe that's what you should aspire to instead.

Aspire to purpose, on purpose.

Yours sincerely,

One of Y(ou).

* Points made by a dear friend, of mine, Justin Rang.

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Currently listening to: Ariana Grande - Lovin' It