This is a disclaimer of sorts. My previous blog entries have been lighter in nature. Not that this is a dark and heavy entry, but not really all that funny. Unless you find me funny regardless of what I say. If that's the case, I suggest psychiatric help (psychologist can't prescribe medication) and lots of it. That is unless you're Olivia Munn or Megan Fox. If you're Olivia Munn or Megan Fox and find me funny, we should talk (about having sex).
My co-worker, Jenn (who happens to be one of the only readers of this blog. Mostly because whenever I blog, I yell across out my door, "Jenn, new blog" and she reads it and says "it's good" or "I liked it." (I know she's lying, but it's a nice lie and it boosts my non-existent ego)), and I were having a conversation about something (I really forgot what we were having a conversation about), but for some reason we got on the topic of evangelicals.
Actually, I remember what we were talking about. I have coworker that I work with. I don't particular like him because he comes across (and when I say comes across, I mean he is) arrogant and condescending. He's a Linux guy, and he pushes Linux and other open source software tools like a crack peddler up in Baltimore (I'm sorry Baltimore. I watched the Wire. I've been to Baltimore. It's a crappy city). Now, halfway being a tech person, I know that Linux is the "superior" OS. I just find it esoteric and time consuming to use. I like Windows, even though it's a subpar OS, because I'm familiar with it and it works. It's a choice that I willingly make. (I made this observation to one of my friends once. Linux people are micromanagers with God complexes. Apple people don't really know how to use a computer. Windows people are defeatists that just want to get the job done and go home) However, his attitude is like that he's found some truth in the world of computing that must be shared and forced upon all. This is a trait that annoys me the most about evangelical Christians. I'm happy and fine that you found religion, but leave me out of your conversion. I don't need your zeal in my life. That goes with Linux as well. This is why I call him a Linux evangelical.
The whole conversation about evangelicals led to a segue to another subject. Jenn brought an overly (yes, it was big) large binder that she received at a conference that she went to about recruiting. Within it specified the recruiting techniques for the different generations: Gen Y and Gen X. I've always identified with Gen X. Gen X sounds cooler. Gen X'ers were children of the eighties, that grew up with Michael Jackson and Culture Club and watched the Wall (the one that used to separate East Berlin from West Berlin (the West were the good guys)) fall down. We matured to Pearl Jam and the angsty cacaphonia of sound of Nirvana, fueled by the angry, anti-establishment (by establishment, I mean police) of NWA and Tupac in the nineties. We were the first generation to really use the internet. We watched Iraq invade Iran. Then Iraq invade Kuwait. And then we invaded Iraq. (Go figure)
If you have any questions in what generation you belonged to, here's the test. If you wore Doc Marten's in high school and rocked a Motorola pager, you're a member of Generation X.
I found that I was on the back end of Generation X and the front end of Generation Y. I am your classic 'tweener. I am the six foot eight forward that isn't strong enough to play inside and isn't quick enough to guard on the perimeter. I am Charles Barkley.
But after reveling in the differences about Gen X and Y, I came to a conclusion about Gen Y. Generation Y is the generation of trophies for participation, because parents didn't want to let any child not be rewarded, even if they lost. They're a generation that grew up on newly minted diseases that lead to newly minted drugs for not being able to concentrate on one thing for long enough. (Not that I don't believe that ADHD is a legitimate disease. I just think it is entirely overly diagnosed.) They're the generation of hand sanitizers and bacterial scares. (I remember in high school when I broke my finger playing basketball. I went into shock immediately, but it wore off when I was walking home. The pain was not fun. My mom took one look at my finger and told me it was a sprain and to go ice it. After two acupuncture sessions and continued swelling later, she finally took me to a doctor and got it X-rayed. Same thing happened when I tore my ACL.)
They are also the generation of conclusions. As I discuss issues with some of my newer and younger coworkers, I find one trait common among them. Dogmatism. Sometimes, having a discussion with them is like having a conversation with a wall.
Passion is fine with me. Faith is fine as well. Blind faith is where I draw the line. Faith without questioning is driving down a road with your eyes closed in a tank. It scares me because I see this generation as a generation that has never had their belief systems challenged because the people around them, influencing them, were too scared to bruise their fledgling egos and damage their confidence. They were given ribbons for being wrong and congratulated for losing. The internet has further exasperated this problem because it just unites like-minded individuals together in forums and chat rooms. It creates this group think mentality that a person doesn't need to have their ideas challenged, thus making them assured that they are right, regardless if it's the truth or not. This is the generation of intellectual laziness.
This is why religion sometimes frightens me. Religion is a conglomeration of conclusion about the philosophy of life. It's a short cut of sorts on how to live your life. Not that these conclusions are necessarily wrong, but it is the struggle, reasons why people came to these conclusions that should be the conviction to follow them. Conclusions without basis, without proper conviction, without the struggle to realize leads to dogmatism. And dogmatism is the epitome of intellectual laziness. Dogmatism is break down of communication. Dogmatism is source of conflict. Dogmatism is the root of violence.
But I suppose it is easy to just shake your head at the generation younger than you, thinking that they don't know how good they have it.
I was playing pool with another coworker once. We were commiserating about the problems we had going on in our respective lives. An older coworker was in the room with us. He smiled politely as we spoke with him. I think it was me that asked him about his past. He told us that he was from Vietnam and that he was born before the war and that he was the oldest of his family. He spoke of the struggle that he went through to survive. He spoke of how he struggled and worked as to teen to take care of his family. He spoke lovingly of his mother that sacrificed everything to allow them to survive.
I wonder how he looked at us. Weak? Undisciplined? I'll never know. All he did was just smile.
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