Popular blogger and radio host Matt Walsh has a message for Millennials: It’s time to embrace reality. Sparked in part by an 18-year-old who tried to sue her parents for support and the growing number of his generation living with their parents, Walsh sees a “disease” that’s slowly spreading:
“Still, extended adolescence is a very real epidemic in my generation (it’s a problem amongst the Boomers, too, but that’s a subject for a different post). I don’t need any study or statistic to tell me that; I see it with my own eyes every single day. It is a disease that afflicts many in my age group.”
To overcome this disease, he thinks Millennials need to accept four truths, even if they’re hard to swallow:
1. Nobody owes us anything.
“We are not children. Nobody has to give us anything anymore. We can go hungry, and feel pain, and live without – we will, in fact. And this will be no great injustice because it isn’t anyone’s job to shield us from discomfort in the first place. Nobody promised us a life of ease and pleasure, and if they did they lied.”
2. We have to work.
“There is absolutely no excuse for a young person to turn down any job offer. How is it possible that fast food joints across the country go understaffed while 24-year-olds sit around at home, complaining that there aren’t any jobs available? Stop whining.”
3. We’ll never be successful if we don’t take risks.
“You are untethered and unburdened. You are mobile. You can carve out your niche. You can make radical decisions. You can walk out on that ledge in pursuit of bigger things. You can take risks, because there isn’t that much at stake. Not yet, anyway.”
4. Nobody cares about our excuses.
“We all have inherent value as human beings. But if we want people to value our opinions, our efforts, and our time — especially if we want someone to pay us for it – we have to get things done. If we don’t, the reasons won’t matter. Good reasons, bad reasons, it makes no difference.”
On the other hand, Brent Rinehart, in a recent article, says that we can’t put most of the blame on Millennials. There are many other factors involved:
“Most Millennials have been raised by parents who fed them a steady diet of praise. These ‘helicopter parents’ hovered over every aspect of their children’s lives. And, all in the name of self-esteem, they constantly told their kids they were special. As a result, studies have shown, they have a need for constant affirmation. In fact, it’s been reported that some large companies have corporate “praise teams” to fill this need for constant positive reinforcement.”
What about you? Do you think Millennials are truly as entitled and lazy as they’re portrayed? What advice do you have for this generation?
John UpChurch is the senior editor of BibleStudyTools.com and Jesus.org. You’ll usually find him downing coffee at his standing desk (like a boss).
