An Open Letter To My Generation

from JM Tohline

If you are reading this, you are probably young.

If you are young, you have probably been told – at one point or another – that you were “too young” for something.

If you have been told this, you have been lied to (well…unless you were told that you were too young to legally drink, which might actually have been true).

I have been thinking about this a lot lately, pondering the restrictions that society has placed upon our generation. We have been called lazy, clueless, immature, not-fit-to run-this-country.

I have also been pondering the restrictions we place upon ourselves.

I have been wondering: What could we accomplish if we did not know what was “impossible”?

The status quo is easy.

It is easy to use our youth as an excuse. It is easy to turn the barriers of societal norms and generational expectations into customized fortress walls, behind which we are safe. It is easy to stay within our comfort zone, to not push the limits, to not risk failure.

But while “easy” shields us from present failure, it sets us on a path that leads to the ultimate failure: a life that accomplished nothing.

Too many of us are content to simply be content.

But what if there is more to life than this?

What if you can do what you dream of doing?

This is your generation.

This is your future.

Think about it.

What if you can choose to be great?