Millennials need some love..."poor babies"

[Obvious Li]

[size=150]Let's hope Millennials can pass school of hard knocks[/size]



John-Robson

By John Robson   ,Parliamentary Bureau

September 08, 2013 04:05 AM EDT





Everyone's fussing over Generation Y, the 18- to 32-year-old "Millennials," here in huge numbers and ever so special. But having trouble coping. Poor babies.



A recent Ottawa Citizen series said these idealistic, tech-savvy Wunderkinds were meant to save the world and transform everything, but a recession hit and now they're hurt and baffled. It quoted sociologist Reginald Bibby: "If life is to be elevated for all Canadians, it's critically important that we understand them, and they understand us."



I didn't know life was to be elevated for all Canadians. And now that I hear it, I worry. Life is meant to be lived and your upbringing should help you live it well. It's not meant to be examined briefly, dismissed as unworthy and replaced with some unspecified far better thing. Seems Gen Whine got told different.



The Citizen story profiled this 20-something who just took six months off with her partner because she puts happiness first. "We're trying to intersperse freedom into our working lives" instead of "grinding away until we're 60 ... It doesn't suit us to have stable, full-time jobs with all kinds of security where you only get three weeks holiday and only see each other in the evenings." Your wish is granted. As Prince Philip said three decades back, "Everybody was saying we must have more leisure. Now they are complaining they are unemployed." A bit harsh on the old self-esteem, what?



According to a 23-year-old sharing a "quarter-life crisis" with her precious peers in Britain's Daily Telegraph in July, "No one prepares us for the decades' worth of post-education revelations such as 'dream jobs' are pretty hard to come by (but by the way, unemployment isn't) ..."



Lots of people tried to prepare you, from Benjamin Franklin and Prince Philip to me. But we were drowned out by a servile claque of Boomers fawning over you in hopes you'd think them cool even once their hair got as thin as their rationalizations for irresponsible, self-absorbed lifestyles.



David Coletto, millennial CEO of Abacus Data, told the Citizen: "Throughout our entire lives, we've been told we could do absolutely anything we wanted to," but it wasn't true.



Duh. Most of us couldn't even slam-dunk a basketball no matter how much we wanted to. So slam-dunking world peace might be out of reach too. Or anything else. Life is hard. Suck it up, buttercup. The Citizen even quoted "a generational diversity expert" that Millennials "are going to reinvent everything." If true, it would make life a baffling ordeal; I don't want sunrises, my office desk and gravity changing constantly. But it's not true. When you become an adult trying to feed a family and stuff, things you encounter like "waste not, want not" aren't narrow-minded bourgeois inventions. They're important discovered truths you can't "reinvent" because, as Philip K. Dick once said, "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away."



Millennials won't redefine parenting, work or healthy living. Instead, those things will redefine them, and the sooner the better since apparently they're living at home in record numbers, deeply in debt, anxious and overweight. A major Ernst and Young survey even says despite their vaunted social consciences they make bad managers, too narcissistic to work hard or help subordinates.



Bummer, huh?



They never meant to be this way. They swallowed their elders' flattery too eagerly, but they really wanted to be better at marriage than their parents, mellow yet responsible employees, etc. The problem is, they were fed selfishness as social engagement, laziness as balance and wishful thinking as sober planning.



Oh well. Now they're at the college of hard knocks. Where we all better hope they're good students even when there aren't marks for participation.

[Anonymous]

That paints a bleak picture of the future if this generation doesn't grow up..



This is is the problem as I see it...They swallowed their elders' flattery too eagerly, but they really wanted to be better at marriage than their parents, mellow yet responsible employees, etc. The problem is, they were fed selfishness as social engagement, laziness as balance and wishful thinking as sober planning.



Mr. Obvious Li, are you still having trouble posting in some threads?

[Obvious Li]

That paints a bleak picture of the future if this generation doesn't grow up..



This is is the problem as I see it...They swallowed their elders' flattery too eagerly, but they really wanted to be better at marriage than their parents, mellow yet responsible employees, etc. The problem is, they were fed selfishness as social engagement, laziness as balance and wishful thinking as sober planning.



Mr. Obvious Li, are you still having trouble posting in some threads?

morning Fash...most seem ok.....havent tried the dinner thread again....forgot what i was going to post so the heck with it....hope you have a good day

[Anonymous]

That paints a bleak picture of the future if this generation doesn't grow up..



This is is the problem as I see it...They swallowed their elders' flattery too eagerly, but they really wanted to be better at marriage than their parents, mellow yet responsible employees, etc. The problem is, they were fed selfishness as social engagement, laziness as balance and wishful thinking as sober planning.



Mr. Obvious Li, are you still having trouble posting in some threads?

morning Fash...most seem ok.....havent tried the dinner thread again....forgot what i was going to post so the heck with it....hope you have a good day

Hello Mr. Obvious Li, that was so strange..



It seems to be working for everyone now..



You have a good day too.

 :)

[Berry Sweet]

I wish more people would just work at a job they are confortable with...there is no dream job...maybe 1-5% of the worlds population have that...but even so...just work and make the wage you do...with THAT being said, people NEED to live within their means...and live a comfortable lifestlye.



I find too many people do not make enough money to support the lifestyle they so much desire and want...big houses, fancy cars, eating out at expencive restaurants, wearing brand new high end clothes/jewellery, fancy electronics and cars/trucks....do we really need all that shit?  No, we don't  Look at the people who have it all....and yet, it's not enough...they want more and more.



The real happy people in this world, are the ones who love their families and appreciate what they already have, and live within their means....they balance their life and everything within it.



But anyway...

[Renee]

"They never meant to be this way. They swallowed their elders' flattery too eagerly, but they really wanted to be better at marriage than their parents, mellow yet responsible employees, etc. The problem is, they were fed selfishness as social engagement, laziness as balance and wishful thinking as sober planning."



This is the legacy of everybody gets a trophy. Everybody is a special person. Don't give a child a failing grade because it will hurt their self- esteem. There are no losers because you are all winners.  

 

Well that's all well and good in a fantasy world but in "real life" it doesn't work that way. It's really a shame because it is shaping up that the older generations will be carrying a significant number of these gen Y slugs for decades to come.

[Romero]

I blame that rock and roll!



The same things have been said about every generation. Silly generalizations. Every person is different. Millennials aren't all the same.

[Anonymous]

I wish more people would just work at a job they are confortable with...there is no dream job...maybe 1-5% of the worlds population have that...but even so...just work and make the wage you do...with THAT being said, people NEED to live within their means...and live a comfortable lifestlye.



I find too many people do not make enough money to support the lifestyle they so much desire and want...big houses, fancy cars, eating out at expencive restaurants, wearing brand new high end clothes/jewellery, fancy electronics and cars/trucks....do we really need all that shit?  No, we don't  Look at the people who have it all....and yet, it's not enough...they want more and more.



The real happy people in this world, are the ones who love their families and appreciate what they already have, and live within their means....they balance their life and everything within it.



But anyway...

Ms. Berry Sweet, I am in complete agreement with you..



Too many of my girlfriends are living well beyond their means..



It is a life of bondage to their creditors..



They also have unrealistic expectations about their careers.

[Chickenfeets]

"They never meant to be this way. They swallowed their elders' flattery too eagerly, but they really wanted to be better at marriage than their parents, mellow yet responsible employees, etc. The problem is, they were fed selfishness as social engagement, laziness as balance and wishful thinking as sober planning."



This is the legacy of everybody gets a trophy. Everybody is a special person. Don't give a child a failing grade because it will hurt their self- esteem. There are no losers because you are all winners.  

 

Well that's all well and good in a fantasy world but in "real life" it doesn't work that way. It's really a shame because it is shaping up that the older generations will be carrying a significant number of these gen Y slugs for decades to come.

Serves these oldsters right for teaching their children that everybody gets a trophy.



What you are all doing here in this thread is accusing a woman who was raped of being responsible for her situation.



Typical middle-aged gutlessness.

[Anonymous]

"They never meant to be this way. They swallowed their elders' flattery too eagerly, but they really wanted to be better at marriage than their parents, mellow yet responsible employees, etc. The problem is, they were fed selfishness as social engagement, laziness as balance and wishful thinking as sober planning."



This is the legacy of everybody gets a trophy. Everybody is a special person. Don't give a child a failing grade because it will hurt their self- esteem. There are no losers because you are all winners.  

 

Well that's all well and good in a fantasy world but in "real life" it doesn't work that way. It's really a shame because it is shaping up that the older generations will be carrying a significant number of these gen Y slugs for decades to come.

Serves these oldsters right for teaching their children that everybody gets a trophy.



What you are all doing here in this thread is accusing a woman who was raped of being responsible for her situation.



Typical middle-aged gutlessness.

Nothing could be further from the truth Chickenfeets..



Spoiled children become adults that cannot fend for themselves.

[Chickenfeets]

But Fashionista, what I'm asking is, did the children spoil themselves or were they spoiled by their parents?

[Anonymous]

But Fashionista, what I'm asking is, did the children spoil themselves or were they spoiled by their parents?

Parents, teachers, society itself which is why my children attend a private Christian school.

[Chickenfeets]

All right, so you're saying it's not the children's fault then?

[Anonymous]

All right, so you're saying it's not the children's fault then?

Fault about what?



I am saying there is a problem with young people not really growing up.

[Obvious Li]

All right, so you're saying it's not the children's fault then?

Fault about what?



I am saying there is a problem with young people not really growing up.

 exactly...fault about what ???...we have arrived where we are and it is not possible to unscramble this egg......the real issue being,,,,,,is it inevitable that the next generation is even more spoiled than this one......the attitude of most millennials does not bode well for their spawn being better grounded in reality.....i fear it will take some cataclysmic event to stop the madness and reset the clock to 1900 and start the 20th. century over again....