Thompson: Growth, Change, and Understanding

          Jim Morrison, an American singer-songwriter and poet, stated that “Each generation wants new symbols, new people, and new names. They want to divorce themselves from their predecessors.” Our Generation known as the Millennial or Generation Y proceeds that of Generation X, a generation known for social change.  Each Generation seems to provides more opportunities for the next, to make the world a better place.  Even though some say what defines Generation Y is simply MTV and BET, our generation can best be defined as growth, change, and understanding.  Our Generation has Accepted a constant change in technology, growth in education, and cultural change.

          The World we live in today is built on the advancement in technology, allowing us to communicate in new ways and be innovative.  Alexander Graham Bell created the telephone in the late 1870’s and forever changed the way we communicate.  The creation of the first telephone leads to updated versions throughout the 1900s of a telephone.  In 1977 the first Cell Phone was created.  Since the creation of the first cell phone we have been able to communicate with people far and near almost effortlessly, a luxury not available to previous generations.  Along with Cell Phones we also have the ability too communicate through Instant Messaging, and with the use of Webcams we can now have a face to face conversation whoever else has a webcam and internet almost anywhere in the world.  Today’s Technology has also given us the ability to listen to thousands of songs without the use of CDs, Cassettes, or Vinyl, we’re even able to take a picture instantly, that can last forever.

          With the growth in Technology came the growth in Education.  Generations before us have fought for the ability for us to have the education we have today.  In 2001 the United States issued the No Child Left Behind Act, which allowed children all over the United States to be educated, no matter what.  Colleges and Universities today are often impacted due to the wanting of our generation to be educated, our generation will have far more people with a college degree than the ones before them, providing more people with more knowledge and opportunity.  Information and Knowledge is not only found in Libraries or Schools anymore, Now it’s at our finger tips.  The Internet has provided is us with an infinite amount of information, Information that was never as accessible as before giving us a broader understanding of the way the world works, things that could have only been speculated years prior.

          Generation X paved a way for their children to live in a better social environment, and we’ve embraced it completely.  Thanks to Generation X our generation is more accepting, in areas of gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation.  Our generation is one of liberation, a generation where people are truly starting to feel equal; a vision set by our forefathers when they stated “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

          When asked what our generation represents a million things come to mind, but the three that stick out are growth, change, and understanding.  The Millennial or Generation Y are living the lives envisioned by the generations before them.  We are far mot then Just the MTV Generation.