It’s interesting to me that all of a sudden, my generation is the generation in charge. It seems like just yesterday I was graduating high school, and now, in just a few short months, I’ll be graduating college, looking to move out of my parents house, join the work force and begin my life as a real person.
Someone once said to me that our generation is the first and only generation that could go away to school for four years, graduate, and then move back in with their parents. It’s the sad hard truth of what our lives as young Americans has become. It seems that finding a steady job right out of college that can supply you with a decent salary and benefits has become less and less likely.
After spending X amount on four years of education, it is nothing less then frustrating to know that using your degree and your good grades as a means to getting a job that interests you isn’t enough anymore. It seems the old saying “it’s not what you know, but who you know,” is more valid than ever before.
Why is that? Why is it so tough for post grads to find stability in the work force, and begin their adult lives? Some of our parents were married with children when they were our age, while now; most of us are still children ourselves.
You need to ask, what is going to become of the world if we can’t let go of childhood?
With 2012 here, presidential election campaigns are a hot topic of discussion, but how many of us, especially at the University, can name all of the presidential candidates?
To feed my own curiosity, I asked a few fellow students what they knew about the election, and who they thought they were going to vote for. The answers, to be honest, did not surprise me. Most people my age could not tell me more than two candidates, and most had no idea what political party those candidates belonged.
I will admit, I’m no better. I have no interest in politics whatsoever, mostly because I truly believe every politician is liar and a thief, but that’s beside the point. It is our generation that can change the way we live, or we can let it continue in the downward spiral without attempting to make a difference.
In the 2008 election, I was just two months short of being able to vote, and that didn’t phase me at all. I feel like some people voted just for the sake of it, because they were of age and figured why not, but people for sure voted without any real knowledge of who or what they were voting for.
We’re an opinionated generation, that’s for sure, but our priorities are not what older generations think they should be. We are all about living life without cares, without worries, and there is nothing wrong with that, but in reality, we do need to start making real life decisions, such as “Who will be the next leader of our country?”
The 2012 election will affect us the most. Our parents for the most part are on the brink of retirement; they have worked, paid their dues, and raised us as they felt necessary. They voted for what they believed in, and it has brought us to where we are now. We are a country billions of dollars in debt, at the so-called “end” of a war overseas, and the laughing stock of the rest of the world.
We need to ask ourselves, is it fair that nonhard-working American can receive health care? Is it right that the price of oil fluctuates so often because someone somewhere said so? Do we want to live paycheck to paycheck when we have a college degree? Do we want our kids to live during a time when it will cost $20 to see a movie?
The 2012 election gives us the power to choose whether our country sinks or float in the global economy, because right now we’re headed for an iceberg. I urge everyone to follow the 2012 presidential candidates. Learning about their standings is as easy as following @MnmthUProblems, and while they may be less entertaining, they are more important in the long run.
