Feeling the Afterburners

   June 8^th dawned with an echo of last night’s news.  Writ large and in color across the face of every major newspaper in America, Hillary Clinton is the Democratic party’s nominee.  Alas, the sidebar story is that Senator Bernie Sanders (D,Vermont) is not.  I knew Sanders had an outsider’s chance of winning the nomination, but I like his message and his moxie.  His platform encouraged hope even though I am not a Millennial.

   With regard to elections, the media feeds on statistics in an attempt to predict voter outcomes and to be the first to forecast winners.  Consequently, the media repeatedly has noted Sanders’ supporters are primarily “younger” voters.  Millennials are now old enough to work and vote.  Everyone should understand this generation’s priorities and how their ascent will impact our future because they will be at the helm of the world’s economic, political and social ships very soon.

   Millennials are 13 to 34 year-olds raised by Baby Boomers who prioritized health, the environment, gender equality, and a college education.  Boomers were told by their Silent Generation parents that if they worked hard and went to school they would have “a better life.”  As a result, most Millennials are latchkey kids raised by working parents who struggled to maintain work/life balances so they could manage the kids’ music lessons, sports and the math tutoring that could propel them through the gates of universities.

   Raised with cell phones and home computers, Gen Y made Google a verb.  “Play time” moved from the yard to the den.  “Friends” were on Facebook or invited in through the doorway of high speed Internet to “game.”  While adults did household chores in the second or third work shift of their day, teens and tweens shook hands electronically with peers around the globe.   American kids learned Korean from YouTube pop sensation Psy and clicked Japan’s Funky Monkey Baby into stardom.  Asian teens returned the favor by getting their sag on for American Hip Hop.   It is no wonder that Millennials everywhere embrace diversity in a world made small by connectivity.

   This generation also was uniquely impacted by human tragedy.  Terrorism in New York.  Wars in the Middle East.  Columbine.  Malala.  Trayvon.  Hate crimes.  Hunger.  Homelessness.  Sandy Hook.  Global warming was viewed through the eyes of children who cried for a polar bear clinging to a shrinking piece of ice.  These were not just search images for Generation Y.  World events made them compassionate humanists rather than national patriots.  Because they were raised in a mass-marketed world, early Millennial social movements were tied to t-shirt slogans offering “Free Hugs” in the hope that a friend could someday learn “To Write Love on Her Arms.”

   During the Great Recession, old promises fell over dead at dinner tables where parents apologized for Ramen noodle meals after months of unemployment.  College dreams were dashed.  Gen Y was orphaned by a corrupt corporate system gone terribly, terribly wrong.  Times demanded they become self-reliant, so Millennials studied Gates and Jobs, took their lap tops to the job market and “did better” for themselves with no help from the authority figures that disenfranchised them.

   Bernie Sanders spoke for them.  Unlike the 2010 Occupy Movement, Sanders offered solutions in the form of organizational skill and the legislative expertise to back his proposals with the power of law.  Although Sanders is not going to be the U.S. President this year, he has vowed to continue to fight for change.

   Because they are young and in some cases unable to vote, Millennials will look toward outside leadership for now.  But as they age and fully grasp the mantel of adulthood, they will need to look no further than the mirror for the leadership they now seek.  In the not-too-distant future, a generation adept at networking and passionate about raising the down-trodden will take power and speak for the world.  As Baby Boomers have aged and passed away, Millennials now are the statistical majority generation in our economy.  Their numbers are making up for their current lack of individual financial influence.  Maturity and increasing wealth will soon alter the balance of power.

   In my lifetime, Millennials will change the world.  There will be free college tuition.  There will be equity in an America where divisive terms like “race,” “preference” and “gender” no longer apply.  There will be inventions and meaningful interventions to protect the environment.  Americans will not be denied access to health care because their physical problem is somehow “morally objectionable” to someone who is not living in their skin.  Corporations will not crash under the weight of honest accountability but will learn to become responsive to the customers they serve or risk the economic fall-out of well-organized boycotts.  The neo Jim Crow laws that make unarmed people run from trigger happy police will be reversed.  The homeless and hungry will not be given a sandwich for the day, but will be lead to a life without needless suffering.

   Millennials, you may be sad about Bernie today but you need not be.  Military jets use afterburners to create thrust. Hit that button on your consoles.  Be the rush.  Be burners.