Ready or Not, We're Coming!

The world we are living in has been passed down from generation to generation ever since its creation. The future of humanity has been entrusted to the children, and then to their children, and then to their children… Many generations have passed since the very beginning of it all, leading to the one slowly growing to take its place in today’s society. But who exactly are they?

Who exactly are we?

We are the biggest generation humanity has ever known, for one. We are also the ones that are the most able to use technological means and international medias. We are the ones who are actually concerned with problems like the educational system, equality for all, and our future not only as individuals, but as a race. And… we are the ones who have never known a world of peace. Global terrorism has greatly influenced our realism and our overall view upon the world we are living in, and we have gotten so used to violence that we no longer find it in ourselves to be surprised or shocked each time a tragedy occurs.

Generation Z, iGeneration, Post-Millennials, Plurals, Homeland Generation… Many names are used to describe us, Gen Z being the most commonly known. More specifically, our generation is composed of those born in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, those numbers hotly disputed in most countries. For example, according to Statistics Canada, it all began in 1993, while Randstad Canada assures that the Gen Z consists of those born between 1995 and 2014.

Unfortunately, because we have grown up using technological devices and such, many of the older generations look down on us. They call us lazy, stupid, insane even. They say we have nothing better to do. That we aren’t trying hard enough. That we create problems for ourselves because we are in need of excuses. That we won’t amount to anything. That we are to blame for the crumbling society. And to all of them, I’ll answer this: you are wrong.

Is it really lazy of us to be tired out by stress, peer pressure, the weight of everyone’s blame on our shoulders? It is really stupid of us to try and experience things because we are slowly coming to understand that the life we are living right now isn’t just about good grades and a stable job?

Can you really call “insane” those who are asking for change?

Thanks to this technology that is “controlling” us, we have grown up influenced on an international scale. We know about different cultures, different beliefs, different origins. We accept those differences. We embrace them. We are called “insane” because we are ready to look passed our entire history and grow beyond, grow greater than before. We are called “insane” because we welcome differences instead of being scared of them. Be it the skin color, the origins, the religious beliefs, the gender, the sexuality, the traditions…

None of that matters. We see the individuality, but also the unity, and that is why we are judged so lowly by the older generations. And what irony that is! Did you know that the Generation Z has lower teen pregnancy rates (40% drop)? That there is less substance abuse (38% drop)? That there is a higher on-time high school graduation rate (28% drop)? We are not as bad as we are made out to be, it is merely a question of understanding.

And, as so wisely said Harry Wallop, journalist for The Daily Telegraph: “Unlike the older Gen Y, they are smarter, safer, more mature, and want to change the world.”

Of course, we do have our fair share of problems. Thanks to our altered, somewhat twisted views of the world, we have grown up with the idea that peace would never be more than an unreachable utopia. We don’t want to try and save the world anymore. Why would we? We aren’t responsible for this whole mess. We already see humanity as doomed and, no matter how hard we might try, we just can’t bring ourselves to really care about it. Maybe it is wrong, maybe we’re right, but who can actually say?

We are trapped between not caring and playing heroes. We want to change but we don’t know how, so the despair simply turns into apathy.

One way or another, though, our generation is the future. Our generation is the one that is going to make things change, that is going to spin the world the other way around, that is going to make a difference. Our generation is the most racially diverse, risk-taking, open-minded, pacifistic and ready for change humanity has ever known. We are also sarcastic to a fault, straight up nihilists if you want to see it that way. We have already given up hope on saving ourselves, but that’s exactly why we have nothing to lose trying. We are ready to watch the world burn if it means that it’ll rise up from its ashes, better and greater than before. And now? Only one question is left.

Are you going to burn down the world with us, or are you going to burn with it?