I went to my favorite indy coffee shop today, for like the hundredth time this week. Instead of chatting up the owner, as I frequently do, I got into a conversation with the barista. What I gleaned was eye opening, both in a sad and hopeful way.
Barista guy is 26. He is intelligent, thoughtful, and open to other's ideas. He is also frustrated and has very little hope that he'll have the things so many of us have: a home of his own, enough income to be able to do more than just pay the bills, and other "luxuries".
Here's some of the fascinating things he told me:
He is a college grad earning more than the minimum wage, but can't move out of his parent's house. At 26 (so young, but old enough to be worried about what's ahead), he thinks he'll never make enough to buy his own home--by 35, which is the number he tossed out. I disagree, and told him so. I pointed out that a lot can--and probably will--happen between 26 and 35.
When I was 26, I was going back to college, making very little money. How little money? So little that I easily got several need-based grants for college, was getting money and groceries donated to me by my loving, generous friends at church, and in order to get the cheapest cell phone in existence, I had to have a friend co-sign in case I failed to pay my bill.
Barista guy told me that he couldn't believe the stuff rich people, such as Elon Musk, do with money. Like Musk launching a car into space. He saw no value--and rightly so, I think--in investing in such a useless project. We have problems on earth that need solving. And I think that that sentiment is probably at the heart of what millennials are angry about. The 'adults' are throwing money at dumb projects that serve no one, when instead we could be trying to help people and places right around us. Now, I am older and less critical of such projects, but I am open minded enough to know that what he says is important to his generation, and we should consider that. He has a big heart, and in addition to his own fears about his future, he is concerned about what will happen to others.
Politically, he feels at home with libertarians and anarchists, but would have voted for Trump if he'd voted. Before you laugh and judge his seemingly inconsistent views, remember, this is someone who wants to see people succeed, but also wants them to know how to take care of themselves. When I was 26, I was a liberal who worried about others, but also didn't want to be stuck in a job I hated, living in a crappy apartment and driving an old, beaten up car. My political views weren't always consistent. And at 40, they are quite different than they were at 26. And at 35, for that matter.
Barista guy makes me sad because, at 26, he lacks optimism about his future. I never lost hope about how my life would be, and remain optimistic to this day. I still have things I want to do and accomplish, milestones I want to achieve. I always expect that things will get even better as time goes on. I wish this optimism for my new friend, and all millennials. They are still so young, and have so much ahead. It's too soon to give up. Their lives haven't even really begun yet.
Barista guy gives me hope because he and his cohorts care about others, and about the planet. They see the idiocy in launching a car into space, when instead, jobs could have been created. Houses for the homeless could have been built. The cure for cancer could have been found. To be sure, he wasn't saying that Musk shouldn't have been allowed to do that, but rather, that we shouldn't be so impressed at such reckless squandering of money.
I think Barista guy is gonna make it. He doesn't know it yet, but life will get better. He'll buy a house, and he'll succeed. And I think he'll use his resources to help others, and our community will be stronger because of him and people like him. And his political views will change and become clearer, and one day, he might roll up to get coffee while working his dream job, and talk to a 26 year old who is worth listening to.
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