Thread by @thatonemaddy

Watching Gen Z men veer right hits different for Millennials. We lived through Columbine, 9/11, the Iraq War, 2008 crash, 2016 election, covid, abortion bans, & now this. We watched institutions repeatedly fail us while older generations selfishly protected the status quo. 🧵1/

Growing up, we did exactly what our elders told us to do to “succeed”. We worked hard, pursued higher education in record numbers, and became the most productive, educated, and highly skilled group of workers the world had ever seen. 2/

But when we entered the workforce, we were met with stagnant wages, a skyrocketing cost of living, & overall lower quality of life than any generation that came before us. We were called ‘entitled’ & ‘lazy’, despite often working multiple jobs we were vastly overqualified for. 3/

We watched banks recklessly crash our entire economy and never face an ounce of accountability. We watched those same banks be bailed out while our friends, families, and loved ones lost their homes and livelihoods. We watched our government treat criminals with kid gloves. 4/

We turned up in droves to catapult Obama to the White House in 2008 because we believed in his message of hope & change. & we watched as members of both parties worked tirelessly to water down policy, hinder progress, & repeatedly side with corporations & special interests. 5/

Even still, we kept working and diligently paid our monthly student loan bills because we’d been told this was the path to financial freedom. And yet, year after year, we watched our student loan debt balloon, ever after we’d repaid more than double the original loan amount. 6/

Again, we were labeled ‘entitled’ and ‘lazy’ by older generations when we’d point out how absurd it was to keep this many young people in a state of perpetual, insurmountable debt. Debt we only took on because they told us we needed to if we ever wanted to “succeed”. 7/

At every turn, we were confronted with the unfortunate reality that the system was not designed to help us succeed. The system is rigged, and older generations who benefitted from it when they were our age made sure to pull up the ladder as they climbed their way to the top. 8/

But I will always be proud of how millennials responded to the repeated onslaught of bullshit. We collectively grew more empathetic, compassionate, and community minded. It would’ve been easy to grow cynical or cruel, but instead we chose to believe that change is possible. 9/

Then 2016 happened, fueled by our parents’ generation. The same ones who called us ‘lazy’ & ‘entitled’ despite owning a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs that they bought on a single working class salary in their mid-20s. We feared for younger generations & vowed to be different 10/

The Trump years brought about Millennials like AOC & Jon Ossoff, who demonstrated the power of being bold & unapologetic. & even still, older generations scolded these younger leaders, selfishly clung to power, & refused to change course. They insisted: trust the status quo. 11/

When we found ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic, we hoped that maybe this would highlight just how flawed our current system & institutions are & catalyze real, systemic change. But apparently not even millions of preventable deaths were enough to inspire empathy. 12/

We watched Americans act largely out of fear and elect a man who’d be 85 years old at the end of his 2nd term if reelected. & we were told that questioning the wisdom of that decision was unacceptable. Fall in line, trust the system, the elders know what they’re doing. 13/

We watched Roe v Wade end. We watched white supremacy be normalized. We watched xenophobia go mainstream. We watched dog whistles build into deafening roars. & it’s exactly what we said would happen if we ran the same, tired playbook. The system would do what it’s always done 14/

& now we find ourselves watching many of the younger generation turn towards racism, misogyny, & homophobia, & actively make our country a more dangerous place to live. We worry about our future, especially now that many of us have either started or are starting families. 15/

It’s crystal clear that other generations aren’t going to save us. It’s not fair to have to spend our entire lives fighting against the complete erosion of our human rights by people who lack basic decency & are ruled by greed. But if anyone’s up to the task, it’s Millennials 16/

We’re resilient, savvy, and absurdly competent. We lead with our hearts and know when to not take ourselves too seriously. We have a well-earned reputation of being compassionate managers who always have our employees’ backs. We’re beyond ready to lead the way. 17/

This is a love letter to my fellow Millennials. We’ve been to hell & back, chronically overlooked & undervalued, yet somehow younger generations call us ‘pushovers’. Because they don’t understand the courage it takes to go through what we went through & still decide to be kind 🩷