An Open Letter to Gen Z From Gen X

If we work together, maybe we can fix this mess.

Note: I saw “Dear Gen Z” trending on Twitter this evening, and when I clicked, I saw a lot of members of Gen Z pushing back on older generations who seem to like to dump on them.

I’ve had quite a few bad online experiences with Gen Z myself, and I’m not innocent of discounting them at times for this reason. But then it occurred to me: maybe what they need isn’t criticism, but encouragement. I wondered if they ever hear a word of support from Gen X.

So I wrote the following. And I’m reprinting/posting video of it here so it has more reach, and more permanent home.

Dear Gen Z,

I'm gonna level with you: your Gen X parents know you got screwed, and we hate it. This world isn't the world we wanted for you, but we're all stuck playing in the ashes left for us by those who were not good stewards of the tremendous world that came before.

My generation was the last to see that world fading off into the sunset. We miss it every day.

Here's the thing: I know you. I'm raising several of you right now. You may get a bad rap, but I know you're not bad kids. That said, your black-pilled cynicism, your frustration, your fear, no matter how well-earned, is going to suck the joy out of your life and leave you hopeless if you don't find a way to master it. (As part of the generation that became synonymous with jaded disenchantment before you guys came along, believe me, we know.)

You got dealt a bad hand, no question. Things are too expensive. There aren't enough jobs that pay enough money to live on. College turned out to be a ponzi scheme for most of you. The world is going insane, you live every day fighting an uphill battle against what the internet and social media do to your minds and emotions, and the geopolitical situation is dangerously unstable.

But you've seen the meme above. It's true. It's happening right now. You didn't ask to be the strong men and women who take a broken world and create good times, but that is exactly the position you're in, and you can do it if you try.

Be excellent to one another. Focus on what unifies you, not what divides. Be forgiving and kind, especially of people's old mistakes. Leave all the needless racial tension behind, and judge others on the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Focus not on political or social activism, but on what you can do, today, to help make the world just a tiny bit better. Then do that again tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.

My generation will do our best to help you. We're older, we're tired, we're battle worn, but we get it. We're all on cleanup duty together. The only thing we ask is that you don't give up. Don't sit on the sidelines because you think the game is rigged. Don't quit before you've had your chance to make a difference.

I know that many things in your lives are just not fair, but please don't waste your time blaming others for your problems, even if it's actually their fault, because the minute you allow yourself become a victim you hand the power over your own life to those you blame. Don't look for scapegoats.

If you find yourself in a cave-in, it doesn't matter how it got started. The only thing to do is dig your way through before the air runs out. If you're lost in a dark forest, the only thing to do is start walking.

Never. Give. Up.

Read as many old books as you can. Easier said than done, I know. But if you imbibe the wisdom of the gone-away world, you might learn how not to repeat the mistakes of the past, and maybe even how to fix some that have been seen before. Nothing is truly new under the sun.

As that old dead guy, Mark Twain once said,

"History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes."

And as another old dead guy named Chesterton said:

"Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death."

You probably don't have any kids of your own yet, but many of you eventually will, and you don't want them to grow up in the world you inherited. We didn't want it for you, either, but we faced overwhelming odds. It took generations to get us into this mess, and it's going to take generations to get us out.

The great men and women of history undertook amazing things, knowing they'd never see the full fruits of their labors. They built cities and cathedrals and monuments that took centuries to complete. They built railroads and canals and tunnels and dams and roads. They created the architecture and infrastructure that the modern world takes for granted.

We need vision and selflessness and fortitude like they had to overcome what is before us. The alternative is to allow things to become so much worse.

I'm sorry we couldn't fix things for you, but with enough effort, perhaps we can fix them together.

We can do this. You can do this. One day at a time.