Generation (WH) Y

Being a twenty-something living in Brooklyn has its ups and down. There are all sorts of connotations connected to that phrase and with reason. Amongst the many shows and articles that have been written about my generation in this borough that’s teaming with creative energy, heart-breaking gentrification, and a sordid, battling reality of old vs. new., it is no mystery why we are seen as hopeless, lazy, and aloof. However, it is my duty as one of those seemingly apathetic members of society to rally against this widespread belief.

I remember standing outside of this club a few months ago, and the bouncers were frowning at each other as they watched the future of this country drunkenly stumble across the threshold and into loud top-forty hits all the while yelling how “awesome” Friday night are and high fiving each other like they’ve fallen out of a kitschy 90s sitcom. One bouncer said in the most somber tone I could have imagined at one in the morning on a Friday night, “I’m scared for the future, man. These kids are going to be running the country.” That really upset me. It upset me more than I thought it would. A fiery anger burned in the pit of my stomach and I said, “We’re not all like that. I don’t want to see this country go to shit, either.” Granted, this is probably not the most prideful moment in this country, it most certainly has been much, much worse. Considering we are still able to criticize our government without any violent- nay, fatal repercussions in my mind counts for something.

Anyway, as I stepped through the doors and into the ear-splitting sounds of Katy Perry, I began to think about how older generations saw us, and concluded that no matter what we do or did it is an irrefutable fact that generations before always feel as though newer generations are destroying some piece of tradition or history that they deem important and fear decisions will be made that will ruin life as they know it. What else can I say, but we need to have more faith in each other. We need to listen to one another, and really listen, not condescendingly, passive-aggressively write articles proclaiming one another’s intellectual discrepancies or indifferences. Can’t we all just get along?




I'm out.