Strings

By happenstance, I’ve found myself lately to be a sounding board for several Millennialsvoicing their angst about ever finding a fulfilling future. There is nothing new about this. See The Graduate (1967) for the iconic depiction of my generation’s moment. In truth it is a luxury: "a first world problem" in the parlance of our time. Anyone struggling just to survive doesn’t have much time for it. The difference between Boomers and Millennials is that the latter really do have reason to worry. Few are struggling to survive, but many aren’t moving forward. That statement needs qualification: a minority are doing very well indeed, but the rest are just muddling along. We’re not talking a minority of 1% . It’s more like 30-35% successes vs 70-65% muddles, but that still means the typical experience of a twentysomething isn’t very good. This hasn’t escaped the notice of the press, and many of the headlines are far from polite.

Salon Magazine: “Are Millennials Delusional?”

Pacific Standard Magazine: “Millennials: A Generation with Unrealistic Expectations”

Huffington Post: “Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy”

allBusiness: “The Millennials: What Have We Done to Our Children?”

and so on.

All of the authors of the above articles broadly agree on the problem. The Huffington Post notes “a desire for nice things and an unwillingness to work for them.” They also agree on the source of the problem. “Baby Boomers all around the country and world told their Gen Y kids that they could be whatever they wanted to be” (Huffington), while (allBusiness) “the inculcation of false hope that students can be anything they want to be and do anything they want to do, regardless of skill, ability or intelligence as long as they believe in themselves, is nurturing impossible expectations.” If Satisfaction = Reality – Expectations, it is unsurprising if young people are in negative territory.

All this is a little unfair both to youths and their parents, and much of it smacks of age-old complaints against the young in any era. Surely the economic meltdown of 2006-8 plus a persistently sluggish recovery since then – one which has greatly benefited 30-35% of the population while leaving the rest stagnant at best – have something to do with it. Angst is not an unreasonable reaction to the present environment by 2015 graduates of high school or college. Nonetheless, there may be some fire beneath all the editorial smoke.

The twentysomethings bending my ear are not asking for advice, and probably (justifiably, too) would shut down were I to give any unsolicited. So, I’ll stay quiet and just offer this comment to the ether. Once there was a notion (not widely shared in my own generation, btw, but more common a century earlier) that that the biggest achievement in life was to live as a free human being. To live by one’s own values. Not beholden, not entitled, and not subservient. One might be prosperous or not. One might have responsibilities or not, but if so they are of the kind taken on freely. Circumstances in life might prevent this, but that is why it was considered an achievement. Any other boon – money, fame, adventure, or whatever – may be all well and good, but as gravy not the meat (or soy burger for the vegetarians out there).

Life without strings is an old-fashioned concept of fulfillment. I can’t claim much first-hand experience with it, but maybe it has some merit.

From Disney’s Pinocchio (1940):

I've got no strings so I have fun
I'm not tied up to anyone
How I love my liberty
There are no strings on me