My departure from university was relatively sober. An e-mail from the examination office informed me that my master’s certificates were ready. According to the usual pace of the university authorities, I was able to pick them up a few months later. In the naturally festive atmosphere of an empty office with lowered blinds, I was handed my certificates. From great ceremonial and great speeches, and by that I mean, of course, only those that come from other people’s mouths, I do not bother myself anyway. “Congratulations on the master,” the lady from the examination office complimented me. “Yes, thank you, too,” I replied. While walking home across the campus, I observed a new generation of students who are already very different from mine. And I think it’s worth it to shake your hand at parting.
I don’t want to echo the manners and luxury addiction of young people. These vexatious complaints are incomprehensible and, moreover, have come out at least as well as the sandals of the old Socrates, who certainly formulated this complaint 400 years before time as the very first. Instead, I see a lot of potential in this generation. Here is an attempt at intergenerational fraternization in three acts.
Prologue
All those young people born after 1996 are referred to as Generation Z, Gen Z or Zoomer. Gen Z has its own style of clothing and its own pop culture, it is also considered environmentally conscious, committed, cosmopolitan and tech-savvy.
Millennials are all those venerable old people who were born between 1980 and 1995, that is, my generation. This generation is also considered to be tech-savvy, security-loving and self-actualizing.
So zoomers and millenials are not that far apart.
Act One: Political Activism
As far as climate change is concerned, we are all looking to the same future. In recent years, it has been you zoomers who simply could not be signed away with promotions such as “Fridays for Future”. That shook us all up. However, to call your generation the bearer of hope of this society now, I find counterproductive. Sure, that sounds like praise, but the thought gets in the way of your appeal and your goals. Because the other generations also have the potential to take to the streets and hold politicians accountable. Everyone can and should consume more consciously, eat less meat and drive less.
Whoever assigns the role of the bearer of hope to others, makes himself comfortable, ignores his own responsibility and thereby becomes part of the problem. If you take your drive seriously and respect it, you can help yourself. You are not heroes whom we can applaud symbolically and then unfortunately have to pass over for the sake of the economy, but you are young people who depend on the support of the other generations. It is also up to us millennials to participate and do our part to ensure that climate demos cannot continue to be signed off. See you at the next climate strike.
Act Two: Why are you like that?
When the skinny jeans and the side part stopped defining the appearance of young people in the last two years, I noticed for the first time how quickly fashions survive again and again. But it seems that fashion is similar to the broken clock, which shows the right time twice a day: if you walk around consistently in any clothes for a long time, then at some point you accidentally fall into the trend. So, recently, fishing hats, wider-cut trousers and middle parting are popular not only among obese older gentlemen in fishing clubs, but also among the youth.
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In this context, I unfortunately noticed how quickly we millennials are also ready to accuse the next generation of wolves for eating us for any trivialities. And this is despite the fact that just a few years ago, articles were piling up about ourselves that accused us of narcissism and laziness, without ever wanting to look at life from our perspective. So I already hear some of my generation swearing about the Mum jeans, the hats and the completely new and absurd organization of the head of hair, as if they were trying to scare playing children off their lawn. Yes, the zoomers look different from us. Trends come and go. And now?
