Is This America?
An inquiry into values
Disclaimer: The words that follow are solely the opinion of the author and are inevitably wrong. The best stuff is in the hyperlinks. Please enjoy.
I was born in 1989. My birth year was named after a Taylor Swift album. Why does that matter? It makes me a millennial, which makes me lazy and entitled. I grew up at a time when America was supposedly straight up crushing it. We had so many Happy Meal toys. It was rad. These days, lots of people can feel we’re not straight up crushing it as hard. Must be that us millennials ruined everything, right?
I did grow up getting a lot of participation trophies and ribbons. Although, I tended to break the trophies and tear up the ribbons in frustration. Maybe I was an edgy millennial with a chip on his shoulder? Perhaps I just had anger issues?
Pretty sure it was the anger issues. I’m not a psychologist, and I’m not sure toxic masculinity is a legitimate diagnosis. Still, I think I had some toxic masculinity disease in my tween, teen, and young adult years.
Fast forward. I’m an adult. Kind of. Is it still considered prolonged adolescence if you pay all your bills, cook all your meals, and do your laundry, but…still live with roommates in your 30’s because, well, student loans?
