The Selfish Generation

It’s not young people

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

I must start by saying that any generalization like this is problematic. There are highly selfish young adults and highly altruistic seniors.

I have, to my surprise, entered that phase called “senior.” Though most of us say we want to live long lives, none of us especially wants to be “old.” My current experience of life is one that many people half my age could not keep up with me in terms of my physical fitness. But my chronological age — mid 60s — meets the definition of a senior citizen, and my skin screams my age.

From this perspective, I have been in touch with the attitudes and perspectives of young adults for generations because I have taught at university since I was in my 30s. Additionally, my son and daughter are Millennials. Through thoughtful conversations with my children and reading hundreds of assignments in the humanities and social sciences (I’ve taught English composition, literature, education courses, human rights, and global migration), I have gained a perspective of generations younger than mine, and I do not find them, in general, to be selfish at all.

Adults in my children’s generation, at least in the United States, are struggling. Just over 50% own a home, once the “American dream.” That’s in comparison…