Flip-Flops

I was talking with someone the other day about faith and young people. This person happened to be about my parents' age and I doubted that our perspectives had much in common. She mentioned that her twenty-something son had been frowned upon at his church because he wore flip-flops to a service. She said that he wasn't being disrespectful, but that this was the type of shoes he always wears during the summer. I took notice at this conversation because as anyone who knows me will attest, flip-flops are my preferred footwear as well.

This person said that she admired my generation (Generation Y) because our faith in God is solid and that she thought that our inclination towards flip-flops was an outward sign of this. She said that Gen Y is more interested in what is on the inside rather than on the outside. We don't care what you're wearing, we care what you're thinking and what you stand for. I absolutely agree with this. We are afterall the generation of the blog. There's no fear in putting our ideas out there and debating our beliefs with contemporaries. A good number of us have experienced the world and constructed our own worldviews instead having them passed down to us from our parents. In my humble opinion, we care about things that have lasting value by focusing on relationships and issues instead of career and image.

There's a USAToday article that described Gen Y in the workforce. I found it pretty entertaining so if you want to check it out, I'm providing the link: http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2005-11-06-gen-y_x.htm

I once heard someone from my parents generation say that she wasn't so much concerned with the idea of my generation running the world, but she did have concerns that we would be the ones caring for her in old age. I think she's in good hands. I'm proud to be a part of my generation. I've read experts say our compassion has something to do with the fact we are the first generation born after the legalization of abortion and we were therefore wanted and loved more than previous generations. Despite the experts opinions that there is some external influence to explain our attitudes, I'd like to think we're just good people.

We know what we stand for and we're willing to take action for social change.