The Things We Need In The End

So yesterday I found myself staring at a blank page confirming my worst fear.  I was out of ideas - I was wrought with depression for about five minutes, then something pissed me off and suddenly the block was broken and I was conspiring with my keyboard to jar free ideas from a sloshing pool of anguishing attitudinal jargon.

Some background.

Weekdays are rough for me.  I have to leave this place of comfort and fun and go out into the world and adult.  I have to manage my way through a labyrinth of office politics and actual work that effects actual lives.  I enjoy my job but I enjoy my time with my kids more.  Weekends are a dreamworld - and I take great care in making the most of my nights and weekends with my wife and kids.

So there I was this past Saturday trolling the mall to find some new shoes for my 7 year old daughter, when my wife decided we should stop for a coffee.  I'm a coffee fanatic so she got no argument from me.  We stop in a coffee shop that will remain nameless (of the bean variety) and I ordered a black coffee for myself and a vanilla latte for my wife.  After ordering the young lady behind the counter looks at the young man working with her and says "You want to try and make one?" to which he replied "No."  She passive aggressively states "Are you going to do anything today?"  he replies with a scoff and begins texting on his phone.

Here in lies the problem.  Work ethic.  Sadly I fall into the generation known as Millennials and I am constantly reminded that I was obviously born into the wrong generation.

Life is work - this is a fact - and the idea of trying to get through it without working is a problem we've created for a whole generation.

Most of my classmates went to a four year university, they partied and went into debt.  They left that university with a piece of paper and an inability to get employment because they lack the proper experience, or they lacked the attitude to enter into the workforce.  This is true for many millennials and some of them settled for small time employment realizing that their piece of paper was not worth the debt they'd accrued to get it (we can get into trade jobs in another post).

Fast forward to my wife and I standing in a coffee shop that is suffering for their choice in employees and we wait longer than we should for two coffees because the girl making our beverages is also trying to work a register while a her co-worker sends texts and scoffs at the idea that he would actually have to work for a paycheck.

My problem isn't the unenthusiastic approach the slouch at the coffee shop has toward his duties - it's his insubordination.  He doesn't deserve the paycheck and therefore should be relieved of his duties.  My problem isn't the fact that he was unwilling to perform his job related duties, it's that his supervisor / trainer was willing to let him get away with it - thereby ruining any chance that this young man would be prepared for higher employment.  It becomes a systemic problem - and he will go on to another employer thinking this lackluster performance is enough to get paid.

Millennials have an opportunity to change the world - we could create historical moments in time that will change the very fabric of what is perceived as possible.  But changing the world will require work - not texting.  Solving the worlds problems, will not be done in a tweet or a facebook post.

We eventually got our coffee and I kindly gave the young man some advice.  “Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today.” - Tim Fargo

He gave me a blank stare and said "What?".  

So what do we need in the end?  We need people willing to do the work to get the results we will have to have in order to survive.  I pray every day that this world does not experience some catastrophic event that will require this adventure in life continue on without modern convenience because the body count will be staggering - because blowing off work at that point will mean blowing off life.  

My theory on this is simple.  Let your kids read comic books, find a hero to look up to and aspire to change the world - harness in them their need to succeed and help it mature into the a monstrous ability to make their own destiny.  Better yet - give your kids a reason to see you as the hero, raise them to strive for the same measure of success and never let them quit.  There are no trophies for participating in life and this world will have what it will need in the end. 

http://bit.ly/2nm4pie