It’s funny. At every turn, it feels like no matter what we do or say, our generation is always looked down upon, discredited, and criticized. When Greta Thunberg made her absolutely moving and provoking speech at the U.N.’s Climate Action Summit meeting, many shut her down because “she’s a child who doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” The very adults who we are supposed to look up to and who are supposed to make the world a better place for us mock her for being on the autism spectrum. When the kids who fell victim to the horrific Parkland school shooting advocate for better control on guns and making schools safe, they were told that “our guns are our right” despite the clear abuse of this “right.” Whatever is going on in this world, it’s because Gen Z is selfish, and the adults don’t need to reevaluate who is truly to blame. Because at the end of the day, is it truly our fault that we are considered lazy, inconsiderate, and greedy when all we were ever told growing up was, “We, the adults, only want to work hard so that my children can live their lives better and easier than I did”?
I don’t think so. We are the generation who will feel the brunt of the decisions of the adults before us who went against their promise to us as kids. It is not our fault we grew up in an era of smartphones and constant screens shoved in our faces. We are not the adults that made it nearly impossible to live in this society without technology surrounding us, making us dependent, making our lives easier.
But now, we are the new wave of adults, and regardless of what the older generations have to say, we are the new wave that plans to make a change in our world.
We will not be at fault.