The internet makes so many different things available to everyone including stories, photos, and a means to comment on what we read. It allows an avenue for people around the world to share their opinions on something whether it is a news story or a photo posted on Facebook. People interact in this way now without even knowing each other, without knowing who's reading what is written. Often that which is written is their opinion and I usually respect this.
The other day I was scrolling through the News Feed on my Facebook page, on it was a story about a young person who made a comment to an elderly lady about their generation not being "green." One of my friends had "liked" this and, hence, it showed up where I could read it.
The post went on to explain that the lady told the young person in her day they recycled, they didn't have electricity, and they are not the reason why, we, today are dealing with climate change. My initial reaction was to think through my beliefs on climate change, which it's happening but isn't intrinsically linked to anthropomorphic means. I'm not a scientist; yet, this is how I came to understand climate change through a weather and climate course I took, but I digress.
My next thought was how disrespectful it was for the young person to say that to the elderly lady, blaming her and her generation for what we are dealing with today. Everyone has contributed to climate change, not just one group of people.
This, however, is not what ended up offending me. Usually I'm not easily offended especially when it comes to reading comments on the internet; yet, this time I did take offence to a few comments.
The comments began saying that the younger generation, my generation, has no manners. As I continued to read I discovered many people believe that my generation is ignorant, selfish, lazy, and rude.
This hit me as ignorant in itself. In essence they grouped me, along with how many people out there, with a few bad seeds. A few bad seeds you'll find in any generation, not just mine. I know this is my view, coming from the rude, ignorant, and lazy generation, but I can't see how this generalization is true like so many seem to believe.
I'm not trying to say I'm perfect, obviously, but I say "please" and "thank you." I hold the door open for people behind me and let people come out of a building, while holding the door, before I go in. If this is rude and selfish, then yes, my generation is just this.
The other day I was walking along and noticed an elderly man riding his bike. As I was crossing the street, I looked both ways and noticed he was gone. No, not gone, he was lying in a snow bank! He had tipped his bicycle over. As a person from the selfish generation, I quickly looked both ways, waited for a car to go by, and ran across the street to check on him. He was fine and I gave him a hand.
In regards to being lazy, it's true; I do enjoy doing nothing on occasion, however, I work almost every day in some form. Whether I am at an event, in the office, taking photos, or writing an article I am kept quite busy. I don't expect things will simply fall into my lap, you need to work hard.
People of my generation do spend more years living with their parents at home, which may be construed as lazy; but, generally this is not the case. They are simply set back in their lives following school. It is extremely difficult to find a proper job out of school, to find a proper place to live, and to be able to pay back student loans. Before finding this job, as an educated individual still living at home, I was close to applying for a position at a fast food restaurant.
It wasn't that this position was beneath me, in fact, I worked in a restaurant for quite awhile. It is hard work. The service industry has many demands, especially when relating to customers. I was simply disheartened with the fact that it seemed my four years of schooling meant nothing. This I think is where the idea of my generation being lazy has evolved from.
I was done school, living at home, and had no job. I actually couldn't believe that those here at The Observer would give me a chance, with no experience other than writing in school. I had no real world experience and quite often businesses won't look at these people. It wasn't that I was lazy; I just couldn't find an actual career following school until I was given the opportunity here, when someone hiring didn't look me over based on how many years I've been doing this.
Again, I'm not saying I'm perfect. Everyone makes mistakes and can have moments of ignorance, selfishness, rudeness, and laziness. We're all only human. I strive to be a good person, to work hard, to be polite, and to always try to do the right thing as my parents instilled in me to do. So, when reading these comments online about how my generation is basically made up of terrible people I was a bit offended.
