From Lindsey’s Desk

This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. Us. You and me.  The Millennial Generation. Maybe I’m crazy, but I can feel that there is something under the surface of our generation that’s starting to stir – there is an unexplicable longing for something different that’s starting to rise within us.

We’ve been deemed the “me” generation; we are thought to be selfish, self-involved, superficial. We are looked down upon, thought to be incompetent, incapable, and addicted to technology. While some of that may ring true, blame shouldn’t be wholly appropriated to a perceived character deficiency; some would argue that it was handed to our generation. We grew up with the internet, with every kid on the team winning a participation award, with a culture centered around throwing things away and buying new items instead of fixing up and making do. We are being handed a planet that is being extorted and destroyed, a changing business world that doesn’t play by traditional rules, and a gap that is forever growing between the rich and poor.

While we all may be verging on being too absorbed with our phones and social medias, I believe our generation has this underlying longing for something more. Thanks to social media and the inherent access to everything we could dream of researching, we are seeing the effects of choices past generations have made more clearly than was ever possible before the advent of Google. Thanks to social media, we can follow people who are making a difference, and many of us strive to do the same. We don’t want to play by the old rules; this new age calls for something much different.

We can create the rules, and we can create change.

You can see it in our entreprenurial spirit – millennials are starting businesses and technology companies left and right. While we’ve all gotten glimpses of “The Good Life” (thanks Pinterest and Instagram) and might be driven by profits, we are also driven by legacy. Socially concious companies are becoming more and more common. We start companies – take risks – not only with the intent to provide a service consumers, but also in hope of benefitting people worldwide. I think that comes from our generation being branded as selfish – we want to prove people wrong.

Accounts like Humans of New York have shown us stories of people, rich and poor, from the Big Apple and all around the world. We are hungry to learn people’s stories and reach out in anyway we can. We are a generation of activists, and while it may look different than our parent’s activism it’s just as pervasive. We use our social media accounts to spread news, to educate ourselves on the world around us, and to get new creative ideas on how to help. And when POINT launches, we can use social media to directly impact our hometowns and even nations all over the world.

Our generation is a powerful force. We are globally-minded and locally-focused. We have a completely different perspective on change. We are impassioned and empowered. Something under our surface is stirring and I truly believe we are the right generation to improve the world.

So, learn constantly. Listen intently. Speak wisely. Share fully. Give generously. Love unconditionally.

I’ll leave you with this quotation from author Marianne Williamson ,

Imagine the greatest thing you could do for the world, and know that is only a fraction of what you are truly capable of accomplishing. You can help POINT leave a legacy, and help our generation prove that we can do more than just take a good selfie.