I’m tired of people saying that this is the generation that gets offended by everything. I’ve heard people say, “you care too much”, and I’ve heard people telling others to “chill” or to “calm down” one too many times. We aren’t offended, we just care and I don’t think we can care enough at this point. We grew up in a world with the economy in the dumps, with men being paid more than women, and with mass shootings happening in our country every other month and we’re expected to fix all of it. This burden is being passed on to us. We have to care and we have a right to be upset.
I’ve started to refer to this jumble of millennials and post-millennials who care “too much” as the Generation of Acceptance in my own head. This is largely due to the kinds of people I’ve interacted with among my own age group as well as younger and older. Millennials are the most likely of any generation to self-identify as liberals, however, there are conservatives among us. Most conservatives that I know are socially liberal but fiscally conservative and, therefore, tend to lean right despite their disagreements on social issues with most conservatives in government these days.
They don’t think there should be a conversation in government about whom people should marry or whether or not abortion is right or wrong. From my own observation, I believe most conservative millennial support the LGBTQ community. Generation Z is the first to overwhelmingly approve of same-sex marriage in their adolescence. Millennials are more ethnically and racially diverse than previous generations and Gen Z is more likely than older generations to have social circles that include people from other races, religions, and ethnicities. This is why I refer to this new wave of kids, as well as college students and young people in the workforce, as the Generation of Acceptance.
I believe we have an empathy that other generations may lack, we care about each other and we care about what is happening in our world. However, while millennials are shown to still have faith in the American Dream, Gen Z has experienced the first-hand stress and fear of unemployment through their parents and older siblings; they were born and raised during the Great Recession.
While some of us may not have as much faith that things will get better; the truth is, it’s already starting to. Same-sex marriage was legalized last year. Sure, it was a Supreme Court decision but it took the overwhelming change in opinion that our generation really introduced to our country. We have a lot of work to do in the way of racism and equality in this country but we’re the ones who restarted the conversation. For everyone who says we’re offended by everything: apparently our offense is working because we’re actually making progress by standing up for what we believe in.
I believe once these younger generations climb the ropes of companies and start holding positions in office, a lot of things will change. I believe our generation fights for what we believe in but as the Generation of Acceptance, I see us accepting each other’s values as well. In politics I don’t think race or sexual identity or sexual orientation or gender will ever have to play a role again. While our generation may still disagree fiscally, I think we will be able to come to resolutions unlike the polarized government we've grown up with. We have to fix what’s going on in our world, and as a member of the Generation of Acceptance observing others of the same generation, I think we can.
