Yesterday in US Politics, House Democrats chose to give a key leadership position to a 74 year old man instead of entrusting it to 35 year old Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Once again, we see an experienced and qualified woman from a historically excluded group, hit the glass ceiling and be passed over for a leadership role in favor of an older white man.
The snub of AOC by House Democrats is representative of what many of us millennials are experiencing as we seek to advance in the world.
The Set Up
Growing up, the adults around me told my peers and I that our generation was special. That a college degree was the ticket to a prosperous future. That we were the future leaders. That we were going to change the world. That our future was bright.
The adults sold us a pipe dream.
While the adults painted a rosy future for us, saying “the kids are alright”, behind the scenes they orchestrated the hoarding of power and wealth, the acceleration of climate change, and the continued exploitation and oppression of the most vulnerable.
The UNO Reverse
As millennials entered adulthood, the adults played an UNO reverse card on us, and began calling us “The Me Me Me Generation”.
The adults started saying millennials are entitled, lazy, narcissistic, self absorbed, difficult to manage, disloyal to employers, stunted in development, and much much more.
The chosen generation became the malign millennials.
And as millennials enter the peak of adulthood, we often see opportunities for advancement in life blocked or hoarded by the older adults who promised us the world.
AOC and her bid for leadership is a prime example.
The Next Generations
I cringe whenever Gen Z or Gen Alpha are lauded as our future saviors. I cringe because that sentiment places a burden on our future generations that they didn’t ask for and cannot consent to.
We, the adults todays, have a responsibility to these future generations. Our responsibility is to make the world better for them.
We also have a responsibility to share with them leadership, opportunities, power, and wealth.
At the present moment, we adults are failing in our responsibilities toward our future generations. We are on track to pass on to them a world that is in worse shape than when we received it.
The Next Ten Years
We can still course correct. We can still prepare a world ready to receive our future generations.
My belief and hope are that in the next ten years (2025-2035) we will amend our ways as humans.
We must amend our ways.
We must reject systems of oppression and replace them with systems of empowerment that grant access to all. Access to education, healthcare, housing, migration, rights, and wages.
We must collaborate with Mother Nature to help heal the planet.
This will require concentrated conscientious effort from us adults. The required changes may seem gargantuan and impossible, but it only seems that way because we recognize how big the gap is from where we are now to where we ought to be.
May we make it a reality for our future generations.