The Millennial Dilemma

I sit alienated with a crowd of my peers. Surrounded by what I would call great friends yet feeling alone more than ever. They are talking about some cosmic breakthroughs in science or new innovative technology. The conversation has an overtone of matter-of-fact but I am not so sure that they know what they are talking about. I am not so sure if they even know what they are talking about. So I sit quietly and wait for the next topic as I am not qualified to give any input that would be substantial. This happens daily and I have seen myself give in to the questionable desire to say something and spit out the same kind of malarkey that my friends are arguing about.

The fact is, I have no idea what I am saying. I have no idea what I am talking about or the implications of what I just said nor do I intend on examining every little aspect of it. This seems wrong to me for obvious reasons but more so because socially, I am building up a character of “I know all” and any question thrown my way will be answered accordingly. It is a society of knowing instead of questioning. Growing up, I have always questioned and was curious about what others thought. Now, I seem not to care so much about what people think and try to answer questions instead of asking more questions. The truth is, I like not knowing. I like guiding the conversation with questions because I know in the end it does not matter the subject material. I have successfully connected with someone. They feel great because they got to talk for most of it and I feel great because I got to ask a lot of questions. I have more insight to who they are as a person and not because I now know they think that we might be the generation that lives forever due to the average lifetime forever extending but because this is beautiful information to how they think. This is what is important to me. If I can know what the mindset of another even as it differs from mine, I have a direct connection with that mind.

Sadly, with the era of social media and instant gratification, I am getting less and less curious about the mindset and becoming more and more interested by the information. I feel myself judging people because of what they say and not how they said it. Everything is becoming more surfaced and it feels vain and filtered. This generation needs to be more in touch with themselves because we are spending too much time comparing our abstract worth versus their abstract worth. It is a generation of quantifying validation at its most basic. This is destructive because now we do not want to talk or show anything about ourselves unless we know it will be judged as accepted. This is an illusion of our reality that as long as we believe it to be true, it will be. Aristotle put it poetically, “To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing.”

We need to get to a point of connection and trust with one another or we will always be deceitful with our intentions. People need to be treated as not a means to an end but as people. Friends are not there just so you can riff off everything you know about a topic and feel satisfied that you think they think of you as intelligent. Get to know people for not what they know but who they are. Be curious of how they got to where they are now and where they want to go. The most important thing to note is that it is not too late. We are not who we were yesterday but who we are trying to be now.

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Do you relate to any of these?. “Everyday Life Observations” is published by John King in The Haven.