“Do you have someone of EVERY generation in your group?” 

My colleague asked this of our school social worker, who was sharing about a pottery class that she’d been taking for about a year. She began to name the classmates who she had grown in community with. They were all about a decade apart, from their 20s to their 70s. 

“Sounds like community!” My colleague said in excitement. 

Our social worker continued to describe how amazing the group had been for her in the last year of her life, how it was a safe space to navigate life’s changes. I loved how every one of my colleagues in the room while she shared were giddy with excitement at this discovery of generational diversity in community. 

Did I mention these colleagues aren’t believers? There were fireworks in my brain as I leaned in, listening intently—partially due to the coffee I just consumed, but mostly because of the biblical implications. It signified the benefit and beauty of diversity and told of a deeper need being met, one that I believe was set there in eternity. 

There’s so much benefit to multigenerational spaces.

As someone who has recently entered a new decade (one that confirms the distance between my age and my youngest colleague), I want to be careful about the conversations I have about ‘young people’. It seems true of every elder generation that there is a growing distance and a harsh critique of those younger than them. Still, it’s important that they’re heard and validated. It is important for us older generations to be curious. 

As a teacher, I often try to understand my students’ behaviors. As an elder colleague, I often try to understand what motivates them. I sigh and think ‘where does the sense of entitlement come from?’ At times my eyes load up with water when I think of their strong sense of justice and demand for change. 

I take that framework with me as I dissect a post I came across not too long ago, in which 26-year-old Alyssa Algren has a similar critique of her generation but reaches a different conclusion than I have. What made the post more interesting was the person who shared the article — a Boomer. It makes me wonder if her thoughts and critiques were pandering to elder generations more than a thoughtful reflection on what societal impacts have created the generations we see. 

In the article from 2019, Aldren quotes Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity." However, she leaves out the preceding statement — and with it, the context: "Our entire economy is slowing down due to the student loan crisis…” Interestingly, I find both articles to have a bit of youthful ego in them. And I’m sure someone from Generation X or a Boomer may come across my writing and sense a similar thing. 

While AOC’s statements seem inflammatory, Aldren’s seem extreme on the other end of the spectrum. Aldren’s conclusions (in my words) were that American capitalism has caused America to be one of the most prosperous nations in the world. To her, we are the most generous in spreading freedom, democracy, finances, technological advances, and medicine abroad. There is no oppression attached to capitalism, especially since people are dying to get into our nation. Another of her conclusions seemed to be that income inequality isn’t a measure for prosperity. She purports that for young people to desire socialism while experiencing so many luxuries means they are misguided and buying into a specific narrative. 

I wonder what conclusions Aldren may have reached if she did some personal reflections as a member of her generation, rather than attempting to distance herself with her point of view. 

I want to ask Aldren: what have your privileges afforded you in life? What is your family of origin and economic background and how might that contribute to your perspective? Have you asked questions of others in your generation with varying backgrounds, especially those less privileged than you? Do you think there have been no injustices caused by capitalism? What price has America paid for this ‘prosperity’? Why do you think income inequality has no bearing on prosperity?

I also have questions of AOC: how are you defining prosperity? Do you think you have enough perspective on what your income and others in your generation might look like in ten to twenty years, given the increase in college degrees? Even with your grievances against America, what kind of privileges do you still enjoy? Have you seen poverty and prosperity outside of the US?

To quote Mark Batterson, “Truth is found in the tension of opposites.”  

I think there’s truth found in the center of both of their perspectives — that yearning for God’s kingdom to come — but I don’t think truth can be found in echo chambers. Without diversity, we, as humans, lean toward groupthink and reinforce our preconceived notions. There are many kinds of diversity, encouraged in scripture, that we must not forget about and must lean into to be a reflection of heaven on earth. 

Photo by Unsplash.