Listen Up

People are just way too judgmental of us.  They tell us we cannot do this or we can’t do that, but it’s not fair. It’s not fair that we, as young people, have to be told constantly we can’t do something because we are not good enough, or we’re not smart enough. If it’s one thing we hate more than anything in the world, its people telling us that we can’t do something. We are a bold generation and you’ve got to learn to deal with that, just like we’ve learned to deal with you. You have called us “The X generation”, and now it’s time for you to deal with it.

 “The X Generation”. That is what we are called. It does not mean “X” for extreme, extra, or even extravagant. The “X”, by our name means/stands for extinct. We say that we are extinct because the world has basically given up on us. People don’t believe that we are able to be successful in life and accomplish anything useful. That’s basically comparing us to fleas on a dog- absolutely wrong and painful with no use other than to bleed you  dry. And that is not true at all! You think we want to hurt you and mess up your lives and ours? You think we want to make you angry and disappointed at us. Smh. As a young person in America, people think that we don’t really have the best outlook on the world, that we’re all about self, or just that we are too young to know anything important. Well we completely disagree with that fact- and I’m not alone when we say that. There are millions of teenagers around the world who want their voice heard so I guess I’m starting the process.

First of all-adults! We are not as little as we used to be. We can think for ourselves and we have opinions-sometimes too many, but it’s a start. We go through things just like adults do. We have problems with co-workers (friends) at work (school). We don’t always like our boss (teachers), and there are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Believe it or not, we have the same problems and we deal with them the same ways, if not better than you do. Just because we are young, or we are inexperienced doesn’t mean that we don’t have common sense, which, might I add, isn’t so common. The knowledge we have has surpassed that which was the norm in your day. We have to learn new tricks for your old games, so maybe you could try giving us some guidance and encouragement instead of condemning us as failures when we do something wrong. You weren’t always perfect, so don’t expect us to be either. You’re basically setting yourself up for failure…and dragging us down with you. So as your future- and ours for that matter, we say show up, shut up, and be ready to teach us how things are really done in the world instead of giving us some sugar-coated overview that our lives will be so perfect and happy all the time.

So as a teenager in America, we think of the world a lot differently than a grown-up might. We think that relaxing when under pressure is a good thing because you get time to think and organize your mind. People get stressed when they are loaded with too much stuff. We think that work is important, but so is family and friends. We think that education is important, but if you’re not going to do anything with the knowledge then-honestly- what’s the point? We think that politics are an important part of professional life and help you organize your beliefs and morals, but that there is no need for arguing over the same thing for the past 100 years and not getting anywhere. We think that if you had a little fun every once in a while, then you have truly enjoyed your life. We think that a risk not taken is an opportunity lost.

            Being a teenager isn’t always fun, but it does have its advantages. In these days, we learn to analyze and think more about things in our lives. People always want us to grow up and do something great in the world. And we will, but not by their definitions. We have a lot we want to do before we get old, and we think that that should be classified as doing and becoming something great in the world. Anything that we achieve in life should be considered a great victory. We are in a time where we are criticized for being different than everyone else. Anything we do to better ourselves that doesn’t apply to all people isn’t worth doing, is what our society has taught us. So thank you Hollywood for teaching us the wonderful lesson of exposure- you were right less is more, especially in the clothing business. It’s alright if we are half naked and look like a prostitute on the corner of the street- as long as guys want to look at us and date us, we’re fine-NOT! Thank you to all of our entertainers like Soldier boy who says that sagging is perfectly fine and cool to do even though it means that we are available for other men to just have a field day with us. Dude, even though you may prefer the male sex better than the female persuasion…sorry but We don’t swing on that side of the fence. Thank you politicians for teaching us that the key to success is to lie, cheat, steal, kill, and run over all of our moral values, beliefs, and  natural teachings as a human being just to get you more money. Even if you end up in jail, family killed, and all alone- you’ve got money right? And money buys happiness-right? WRONG Sherlock!

This is what you are teaching us, and honestly, we don’t like it. But we want you to be proud of us. We want to be loved and appreciated and be known to the world. And this is how you’ve taught us to do it. So I hope you’re happy that you basically sent us on a one-way ticket to the Hot House (Hell for those of you with the brain capacity of an ant and attention span of a fly). Not saying that all adults or elders are completely worthy of being lit up like Christmas trees on a holy night (bullets). Some of you need a hole in your head like you need cancer-not at all, but you need to make sure that you are all on the same path.  We need you to stop being afraid to speak up for what you know is right. This is the time to be a rebel, a patriot. Paul Revere said “Give me Liberty, or give me death!” No, we don’t want you or us to die-well not physically anyway, but we need you to give up your egos, and past memories on mistakes that you’ve made so that we can have a better tomorrow. It’s not fair that you got to live your lives, and we’ve been sentenced to death with ours. Thanks, but no thanks. You can keep all your stardom and fame. Yeah we want that too, but not at the price of us losing our lives, our being to a full conspiracy of “I’m afraid to mess up again”. You are going to mess up-you’re human and that would make me nervous if you didn’t, but we need people who want what’s best for us.

This is our decree and we want to live life to the fullest-the right way. We want fun, relaxation, money, love, family, and the entire world has to offer. We may not have all the answers (like it worked out for you-yeah right), but we are sure doing a lot better than when you were kids.