The stock market crashed. Many of us immediately started getting called lazy, expecting handouts, entitled, wanting a trophy for showing up. Before then we were told that if we just did what we loved, everything would work out. We were told that fulfilment was the most important part of getting a career. And that money wasn’t as important as happiness. …And then we were told to take that job at starbucks, getting berated and verbally abused by customers, and we were told to be grateful we had anything at all. Our complaints about student debt fell on deaf ears from generations who, when they were younger, started out with ‘nothing’ and made something of themselves. In an age where they could get a family-supporting job with a high school diploma. In an age where you could work part time and put yourself through school. I for one, would have loved to start with ‘nothing’ rather than a heap of debt from a degree I couldn’t really use to get that fulfilment I was promised. Everything didn’t just ‘work out’ because we followed our dreams. In fact… we were told to… put our dreams on hold. Or that we should just make it a hobby. Or just… wait until retirement. Many of us who had degrees and jobs at starbucks had parents who thought that because we didn’t have a job in our field it just meant that we weren’t looking for them. So many of our role models turned their backs on us, and refused to listen to the reality of our situation. Because it didn’t match up with what it was like ‘when they were our age.’ By the time our role models realized that… no… there isn’t just this trove of jobs out there, waiting for resumes dropped off to the manager with a wink and a handshake. By that time… we’d stopped caring what they thought.
James Somerton
