The empty pride of our generation might become our legacy.
“People try to put us down. Talkin’ ’bout my generation…Just because we get around. Talkin’ ’bout my generation…Why don’t you all just fade away… Talkin’ ’bout my generation.”
The Who made a point about oppressive authority looking down on their age in the song “My Generation”. Today, however, there is an exceptional arrogance among students due in part to different circumstances. This attitude is not unlikely to diminish with age and may prove detrimental to society in the long run.
Each generation is somewhat arbitrarily given a nickname – the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and the Silent Generation. There are a few in the running for the 1981-1995 generation including Generation Y, Age of Arrogance, Trophy Kids, the Millennials, and Net Generation. Some of these names refer simply to the time period they encompass. Others reflect the high self-esteem we emanate. This is not as nice as it sounds.
“Entitled” is a word that often comes to mind in reference to our generation. Students are entitled to positions, honors, and awards. We are club president, sports captain, and “honorable sportsman”. We receive medals for “best effort”, “best smile”, “best outside left midfielder who played in 1/6 of the games”. To be fair, yes, everyone should feel worth something, but the extent of this should not be to give students the right to a pompous attitude. From a young age, we are given awards during Field Day, at art camp, and for remembering to use the potty, not our pants. Honestly, you probably were not close to being the next Ronaldinho, but, boy, when you got that award, it felt like it. Further, we are told on a daily basis that we have potential. Yes, we do and it should be duly noted. But, the range of potential between people is not as great as one thinks. What creates the stark contrast between those who “go far” and those who do not is mainly how one uses their potential.
By receiving meaningless awards left and right and being told that we can do great things, of course we feel justified to receive the positions of club president and sports captain. This age, though, takes it a step further, by actively making ourselves look better than we really are. The technology we have at our disposal allows us to do so. This is what separates us from the generations before us. Facebook, the classic example, allows us to be perceived exactly the way we want to. But, so do blogs that let us tell the world our lofty opinion whenever we get the urge to write. Twitter allows us to tell everyone what we are doing every day because it is so cool and so much better than what other people are doing. Technology magnifies our so called accomplishments. We use this to our advantage. Society has become more and more competitive, and we, perhaps subconsciously, utilize these outlets to make ourselves look and feel better. It helps us to obtain and justify titles and statuses we have been programmed to believe we deserve.
Relying on our potential in order to not actually do anything except inflate our image is not only detrimental to the individual, but to society. We absolutely cannot survive on potential. We are the President of the United States, the CEO of General Motors, and the manager at the Manchester Wal-Mart. No position can handle someone who is incompetent and unprepared. Our nation could not handle it. If we continue to get these positions, but do not think that we have that much to learn, society will suffer. No matter how exalted or forgotten the title, a flood of unprepared, arrogant leaders will lead to an embarrassing deterioration of companies, capitalism, and the general wellbeing. Potential is nothing if it just vegetates. It is implanted in our minds in order to spark inspiration and confidence, not as a replacement for work and true accomplishment.
We can do it; we just can’t forget to actually do it. What we choose to do is up to us, but the decision will determine how this generation will be remembered. The difference between filling and fulfilling our positions, will decide whether the catchphrase of this age will be Generation Y Not? or Generation iForgot.
