My father, who would’ve celebrated his 68th birthday if he were alive today, would always tell me that I was a very capable person. It left an impact on me; I can still hear his voice saying it. It’s refuge I retreat to when I feel capable of nothing.
Nobody ever comments about what our generation, millennials, are capable of. And I don’t think we were destined to save the world, but I think we are capable of something equally important.
What I think is interesting about how we grew up is that we saw the before and after of a lot of changes, right as we came of age.
We saw both sides of 9/11. We saw both sides of the internet and social media. We saw both sides of the Great Recession. We saw both sides of online dating. We saw both sides of globalization. We saw both sides of climate change. And on and on.
And because of that we understand keenly what can be and what should be. We’ve lived it.
Before a change in culture, someone has to take a stand and say, it doesn’t have to be this way, it can be different. And taking that stand is really hard, and takes tremendous courage. Because to change a culture requires going up against years, maybe decades of momentum the other way.
I think we are capable of taking that stand, sharing our vision of what the culture could be, and clearing a path for the change to happen. That seems trivial, but it’s really quite significant. We are capable people.
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