There has been a war of words between the 20-somethings, the millenials, and boomers recently.
There are many ways to judge people, whether or not I expressly condone it. By religious or political affiliation; by economic status; by what province we come from or the nationality of our parents.
Lately, seems like there is a resurgence of people being judged by their age. Boomers and millenials alike are in a heated debate, mostly behind the safety of online comment sections. Who knew the boomers were so good at using the Internet?
With budgets coming out and politics at the forefront of many stories and comment boards, everybody is asking what the government can do for them, or are concerned about what it isn't doing for them.
My generation wants jobs and an economy that can support them. The boomers want security and health care. Unfortunately, only one of these groups bothers to vote.
If a millenial is having trouble getting a job, he or she is pegged as unmotivated or lazy. While a millenial complains about the boomers living the high life off government programs for years, leaving millenials to pay back an exorbitant debt, which isn't at a sky-is-falling level just yet.
The two generations are lobbing verbal grenades.
It's easy for boomers to tell a 20-year-old to quit complaining about the economy and just get a job.
I'm 24 and graduated college in 2008. About five months later everybody started getting really crazy about the collapse of the economy and hoping for a recession as long as it meant there was no depression.
For my entire working life, which is admittedly very short, I've worked and looked for work under the cloud of this uncertain economy, Estevan excluded as this place sits in an economically protective bubble. That's only creeping up on four years, but in the those four years I have been laid off twice and collected employment insurance for a few months. If I don't count my current job, which I expect to keep a little while longer, I was laid off twice in less than three years.
I'm not complaining about what happened. That's just the working world I know. I've never struggled for money or gone hungry, and I don't expect anything to be handed to me. I have never expected to work anywhere for more than a year. Twelve months is typically when the layoff can be expected, and then it's back to looking for a job.
Some millenials complain about how every boomer was able to buy a house, while we won't be able to afford one with housing costs right now and with everyone in education debt until their 30s. After that we buy homes and are in debt until our 60s, and the whole time we are paying off the government's debt. Home ownership is overrated, and I think millenials just need to modernize, and realize that times have changed, and we will be renting into our 30s and 40s.
The idea of buying a house has certainly never crossed my mind. It's just about managing expectations.
It's fun to read all the hateful comments on either side of this argument, and I can really only speak for my counterparts. It's safe to say neither generation knows exactly the problems and stresses the other is experiencing right now. It just makes for a great argument when neither side listens to the other.
