Instant Gratification

I was in my mid 20s when I had my first real job interview. He was an extraordinary man - still is - rather straightforward and no less intimidating. I was young, confused, easy to intimidate and, most of all, having no darn idea about what Id wish to do with my life.

He invited me in and, with an asphyxiating gaze, asked me why the hell would I, from all the options in the world, wanted to work in television.

I actually didnt. And did not lie about the fact.

He paused, and with a blunt lack of surprise replied: good. But what do you want?

To make a revolution, I replied. Childishly.

He smiled. Certainly. You all do.

Afterwards, we had a long off topic conversation about generational behaviours and identities. A topic both of us suddenly seemed to take a greater interest in.

--

Seven years ago there was a less vast literature on what we nowadays voluptuously call the Millennials. We, the 80s+ offsprings, were still too young to be theorised as a full fledged generation.

But even if the subject matter had not yet been treated in depth, anyone with an eye for it could sense something odd was in pending.

Years passed and we grew older. And growing older generally comes with clarity. Or at least it should. And clarity means, in the case of the Millennials, a strong reflection of avoidance. That is to say, a youth time mostly spent avoiding. Anything and by all means. You watch your friends and magically see them reflecting you. And theres avoidance again. Avoidance in taking responsibility. Avoidance in saying. Avoidance in doing. Avoidance in admitting.

And when avoidance is backed by pride and by the extreme belief that we, from all people in the world, are unique and deserve to be treated accordingly, nothing good can eventually come out.

We want to make a change. Whatever that means. We believe that we are special. But we fail to articulate how. We are revolutionaries. On Facebook . We want to be independent. But in need, we turn to our parents for holiday tickets. As kids, we were told that what matters is to take part in the game. Not to win the game. And we grew older, truly believing that is true. Also, we were deceived by the idea that wanting is enough for a dream to come true. But in fact, it isnt. We instagram about our perfect lives, because pretending is easier than facing. We are clever and educated. But up till now, no great theory has been written down. We pretend that we dont believe in big love stories, because we are smart. And being smart also means being skeptical. But, in fact, we do believe and hope for big love stories. But we delude ourselves that we dont. Because in the back of our heads we know that anything big requires commitment. Which we largely avoid making.

Leadership is something we love to voice about. Along with other countless bold interpretations of how things should be done. But the truth is this: Trump is the new president of the United States. The old intelligence establishment is collapsing under dispersed acts of terror. And the good old European dream of unity in diversity is not able to manage the surge of unfamiliar faces.

But great as we are, we still have not a damn clue about any tenable alternative. However, we criticise. Were really good at that.

We are, of course, outraged. But this does not stop us from spending our days and nights liking pretty faces on social media. Or from putting all our effort in counting how many likes and shares our pretty faces collect.

We are sensuously living with a constant hope for instant gratification. Meanwhile, the world is falling apart.

On May 2013, Time Magazine came out with a generous cover story bearing the title Me Me Me Generation . In spite of a pessimistic demonstration, the author, Joel Stein, chooses to end his story in a optimistic tone.

So, yes, we have all that data about narcissism and laziness and entitlement. But a generations greatness isnt determined by data; its determined by how they react to the challenges that befall them. And, just as important, by how we react to them. Whether you think millennials are the new greatest generation of optimistic entrepreneurs or a group of 80 million people about to implode in a dwarf star of tears when their expectations are unmet depends largely on how you view change. Me, I choose to believe in the children. God knows they do.

But the sad truth is that we might actually implode in a dwarf star of tears. And this is not a critique, but a rather harsh auto-critical point of view. Because we are already in 2017. And our coming of age left us with little to no time for setting things straight and stop avoiding.