Generation in between

We are known as the wasted generation, the one without any future hopes, the youth, which will not be able to enjoy pension, because our country will not be able to pay us a living.

We are both - the ones who are hoping for a better future and the ones who must fulfill hopes of today’s “grown-ups”, who failed in building up a secure and stable system to care for themselves. We must do better. We, Generation Y.

But who are we, how do we define ourselves and how do we want to conquer all the difficulties that we have to face now and the difficulties to come, especially those in politics?

“To achieve great things, one must get up and work for it. But you, you are lazy, you’re waiting for luck to come around, you’re not willing to work for it.” These are the words of investment banker Gerald Hörhan, who wrote a book about our generation dealing with financial issues. Whilst his book is about money and investments, this quotation can be diffused on a broader level.

Is it true, that we do not want to work anymore, that we are not willing to work for our goals? Do we even have goals or is life only about enjoying the time we have?

The answer is: partly yes, and partly no. I believe it is true, that our generation is less up to work hard to achieve things. It is true, that we do want more while working less. It is also true that we tend to do things with no particular reason, just have a look at your Facebook account. How many cat-videos and CollegeHumor – slide shows do you see? More than are necessary I guess, and now ask yourself: What is the reason to do this, besides entertaining people for estimated 34 seconds? Why are young people spending their time filming their pets rather than doing something useful like studying for their exams? Well, because, in one way or another, we are lazy.

I do not want to expulse myself by being critical here. As a matter of fact, it is 11 pm on a Friday night right now and before starting this article I spent around 30 minutes on Facebook, stalking people and scrolling around, just for fun. I think that is the problem. Please, do not misunderstand me, life should be about joy, about fun, about great experiences, but how can we dare to appreciate the bright side without having to work for it? Instead of spending hours in front of the TV, playing video games, we should get ourselves together, set some goals (no #squadgoals, please) and do everything to reach them. As a matter of fact, problems will not disappear just like that, we will have to find solutions for them. Essential problems as global warming, the worldwide refugee crisis, financial crises, terrorism will not find their ends within a few years from now, they will be constantly present for a lot of years to come and it is to us doing the best we can to solve them.

But how will we manage that? Well, I cannot predict the future, and I myself, do not have all the answers to these questions, but that is not the point either. It is not about one person having all the answers, it is about sticking together, about teamwork. Thanks to modern social media we can connect with people all around the world within seconds, this great opportunity has not been available to any generation before us and we would be great fools if we would not use it. There are already lots of young people who are great examples for what we can do. Boyan Slat is a 20-year old innovator from the Netherlands who invented a “floating array” to clean up the seas from all the plastic we throw into it. With his invention he will be able to collect 70,320 tons of plastic within only 10 years, he will save thousands of animals’ lives and protect precious ecosystems. He did this because he saw the problem and decided to do something against it, and this should be guideline to all of us.

Life is not about work only, but it should not be only about having fun either. We must find our way through these extremes, get up and do something against the problems we see and which we find the most important.

It is not probable that Boyan Slat will find solutions concerning our financial crises, but he might do a brilliant job when it comes to saving our seas. No one has to have all the answers, it is enough to have one. It is enough having one answer, working it out, and contributing to a safer future.

- Images provided by Berliner Kurier and Tagesspiegel. -