Millennials Need a "Bigger-Than-Me" Story
When I was a kid, Dick Tracy was a popular cartoon strip. I don’t remember much about the comic strip except that Dick Tracy could talk to other people through his wristwatch. In the 50’s and 60’s, that was sci-fi. Today watches like Tracy’s (except much smarter) are everywhere, including on my own wrist.
The technology that gave us smart phones and smart watches is among the many 21st century challenges Sarah Coppin cites as contributing to the malaise of the Millennial/Gen Z generations. In her beautifully written piece, “Dear Boomers, This is Why Millennials Don’t Feel Motivated to Work Anymore,” Coppin lays out the societal and technological changes that have driven Millennials and Gen Zers into a slough of despond.
Since she’s addressing Boomers, Coppin takes care not to directly blame them for the plight of Millennials and Gen Zers nor to ignore some of the difficulties Boomers faced. Still her implication is that Boomer challenges can’t compare to the perfect storm of economic, moral, and spiritual decline, along with technological advances, climate change hysteria, and loss of trust in institutions that have left Millennials with a sense of despair — hence her recurring refrain: “We’re not asking for handouts; we’re asking for hope.”
As a Boomer, I can bristle at a few things Coppin writes, but I can’t disagree that the confluence of so many soul-deadening aspects of the world Millennials came of age in is leading their generation to a crisis of spirit different from that of previous generations. And I hate that the world she laments is the one my grandchildren — and especially my two young great-grandsons — will inherit.
Everything Coppin mentions plays a role in the crisis of spirit affecting Millennials, but it’s the loss of belief in the transcendent, in something greater than themselves, and in some ultimate purpose for their lives that’s most significantly contributing to Millennial malaise and despair. Coppin writes: As Millennials came of age, we were the first generation to be told that we have no bigger-than-me story to inhabit (emphasis in the original).
“Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained.” Proverbs 29:18
Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained. (NASB)” This verse isn’t speaking of vision in the way we think of it today, but as a prophetic word or revelation from the Lord. We might even call it a “bigger-than-me” story. Without it, people are unrestrained, left to their own devices to figure it all out. This seems to be the state most Millennials find themselves in: adrift in the world with nothing to hold onto and little hope of rescue.
Boomers, whether our challenges were equal to or greater than those the Millennials face, and whether or not we bear full blame for the state of the world today, we do owe it to our children and grandchildren to help them find hope in the “bigger-than-me” story found in the prophetic word of the Lord, the Bible. I can’t say I know exactly how we might go about doing that. But it sure can’t hurt to first understand where Millennials are coming from. And reading Sarah Coppin’s post is a good place to start.