Are millennials letting us down?

Many have seen the videos from the beaches of Florida, and from bars and restaurants across the nation, featuring those under thirty who seem to be taking little to no precaution against the coronavirus.

Their thinking seems to be, they are young and healthy and the coronavirus strikes the old and infirm. So, why worry? The possibility that they could carry the virus to those who could be hurt by it seems far from their minds.

To those of us of a certain age, Gen Xers and Boomers, this strikes us as the ultimate in selfish thinking. Why, some may wonder, do they feel this way? How can they act with such reckless disregard in a situation such as this?

If there has been the Me Generation and the Greatest Generation, is this the Narcissist Generation?

There are possibly many answers to that question. But an obvious one is that this is an untested group coddled from cradle to college with the certainty that they are somehow special. They aren’t. Except in the sense that now, when called upon to step and do their duty to their fellow citizens, many are AWOL.

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This, of course, is not a blanket indictment against those of a certain generation. Many millennials, like those in uniform, are fine brave people. And Xers and Boomers have our own share of slackers.

However, many millennials are too young to have dealt with 9-11. much less the existential threats of communism, fascism, and depression past generations have gone through and surmounted.

Theirs has been an existence of smart phones and Bernie Sanders. They, as many of the young over all recent generations do, think the warnings and admonitions from those of their parent’s generation come from people who were born 40 years old, never had sex, and never smoked a joint.

As such, the caution we and government authorities counsel over this virus, and the public health cost of large congregations of people, are looking upon as blather from the elderly. The youngsters will —excuse the expression,  Garth— party on.

Which we, no buzzkills ourselves, may agree with in normal times. But this time is far from normal. One hopes those under thirty quickly begin to realize it and do their proper bit to help their community and aid the nation.

Then after this thing is over, they can put on one helluva party.