At this writing, analysts are fumbling with descriptions for the Millennials. The Millennials are those coming into the adult population in the new century, the new millennium – 2000 AD and after. Boomers are retiring. The eldest of my children was born during World War II and just missed making that first post-World War II generation. Although her siblings showed up in the few years after her birth there is no doubt that she heard several different drums than they. Then the X-ers arrived. Other names have been proposed possibly to introduce an alphabetical approach. The Y-ers have become the Millennials. The smaller group, the X-ers, separate the Boomers from the Millennials. Those brought up through the depression of the 1930s are generally known as the Silent generation, a belated title. My files include articles about the silence of that generation before it was so identified. The Boomers were the largest, until the Millennials. There will be 100 million Millennials, which approaches the population of the United States when I was born. The various groups will be fodder for future historians.
It is said that the Boomers are individualistic, self-absorbed and tolerant; the X-ers are pragmatic, diverse and savvy; the Millennials in the beginning appeared to be edgy, cynical and ironic. At this writing, the Millennials are being reevaluated as authentic, autonomous, and developing authorship. They are said to: want family orientation, believe in pluralism, love authenticity and truth, feel more of the open world, but they also feel stressed, they make short term decisions, and they expect life to be paradoxical – which it is. There are many in any generation, for who predicted features will not apply, but pre-scripting (prophesying) life is inevitable. There is prognosis that Millenials will improve over the two previous generations in restoring marriage and family values, in reducing the ‘rat race’ of professional life, in seeking better quality entertainments, and improving the statistics for personal habits, even improving statistics for crime. Forces will compel some amendment to the various sets of predictions. Influences of electronic media, changes in marriage contracts, abortion and child concerns, and other issues will likely change some current opinions. Globalism will also change personal and cultural activity – and threat. The Christian may not find significant influence from many of these factors. The culture of Christians ought to be cultivated with energy from the Church community.
In spite of some of the perceptions of the multiple generations sharing life in America, we can be rather sure that outcomes for these groupings will be somewhat different than predicted. They always are. Human nature, showing little change over the centuries will assert itself in some historic ways. Changes in resource supplies, in weather and environment, in economics, in populations, in beliefs, will, with several other mixing influences, make the nations function in ways not prognosticated. What will warfare do to us? What will economic depression do to us? In 1939, Japan and Germany believed they could not survive without more land. Lebensraum, the Germans called it. They were denied the objective, and have emerged as somewhat traditional, peaceful and democratic societies since. The future rests most efficiently on the ability of persons to invest in understanding who he or she is as a person and citizen, under God, and how either can preserve and survive in world community. It is the privilege of Christians to press for the best secular contexts in the pattern of righteousness. This is lesser in value than the spiritual meaning of the redemption of Christ for persons, but it is a factor for Christian life to espouse, vote and support representatives and programs that come closest to righteousness. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020