The Mysterious 'Lost Generation'

So yet again in the news, journalists, politicians and other various supposedly important people are talking about this ‘Lost Generation’.

Ok so the Oxford Dictionaries definition of generation is:

1. of all the people born and living at about the same time. 2) The average period in which children grow up and have children of their own (about 30 years)

etc etc

and lost pp of lose is just alot of negative explanations including fail to win, earn less, waste etc. 

Hang on, so let’s back up a second, am I included in this ‘Lost Generation’? Yes apparently I am as I’m still within the 30 years from the financial crash and I haven’t had kids yet. 

This makes me so mad. How dare those people use that phrase as a way of describing the world we’re living in. How dare they. This is pure generalisation and quite frankly patronising to thousands of people. This statement implies that an entire generation are to be associated with ‘waste’, ‘failure’ and ‘earning less’. There is no denying that times are tough and things will get tougher in the next few years. However to simply sum it up as being ‘lost’ is grotesque. It’s interesting to note that the majority of people who use this phrase tend to be older (I may be generalising here) and do not consider themselves part of this ‘lost generation’, e.g older people with full time jobs looking down on younger unemployed people. 

I think I find this statement so offensive because it implies blame and it’s labeling in the same way that the Victorians labelled their working class. How is anyone in this so called ‘Lost Generation’ supposed to succeed when they are starting out with this ridiculous banner hanging over them like a black cloud. 

Young people are standing up for themselves and others in a way that hasn’t been seen since the 60s and 70s. They aren’t just laying down and accepting the appalling treatment they are receiving, which has resulted from the greed and dishonesty brought about by older generations. More young people then ever are going to University, not because there is more opportunity but because they have more ambition and imagination then previous generations. There is a small minority that may have given up and some that may also do so, but for the most part this ‘Lost Generation’ is not lost. It’s fighting and it’s fighting hard to right the wrongs of what has gone before. To stare these challenging days in the face and say I’m going to start a family or I’m going to University or I’m going to start a business or I’m going to live the life I want are not actions of a ‘Lost Generation’. So the people that use this phrase should not think lightly of it and for those older more comfortable generations we don’t want sympathy because we’re not lost, we just want support and action in order to get through these tough times.