THE FOLLOWING IS A REPOST OF A BLOG FROM 2016…. ONLY THE TITLE HAS CHANGED.

 

In July 2016 I self-published “Guidance Against The Odds”  I also built a web-site “bookmystory.net.”  I’m not a writer, an internet guru, a politician, nor am I rich.  Just a military retiree, a member of the “Silent Generation,” and a great grandfather trying to set an example for my grandchildren.  I titled this blog “The Millennial Audacity” to grab the attention of a generation with no derogatory intentions. It was posted on my amateur web-site months before the presidential election, also on twitter.  A picture can be  worth a thousand words. Hopefully more Americans will get the underlining message of Spiritual Partnering I tried to put forth in Guidance Against the Odds.”  @hlf442207

“The Millennial Audacity”

The expectations of “Guidance Against the Odds” and the site BookMyStory.net is entirely motivational. With the core focus on inspiring young minds to read, to study history and to reach out to youth across the nation, learning the art of communicating by listening with empathy rather than immediate discord, a process necessary to turn around and save the sanctity of our Nation. We are not in a reality TV show.  You are fired, is for real.  With a world measured by speed, data delight, and sound bites, hate fear and anger, demonstrated by adults is now common core, and emulated by many of our youth as being natural without provocation.   “The Audacity of the Millennia’s,” a rhetorical statement, meant as a stimulus, to and for a generation, who within a decade or so will be moving into the eldership of the most powerful nation on earth. 

In 1961, a wall was built in another part of the world.   It divided people; with fear and hate as it’s motivation. It took 28 years with America’s involvement before the wall was torn down. In 2016, in our nation, the conversation about walls and deporting people further illustrate the inability for power hungry individuals to set at a table of understanding. The wall is just one of many issues used to incite anger interjecting fear and prejudices as fuel. As a nation, we don’t see how others countries see us, mixing patriotism with hate and calling it democracy. “Do as I say, not as I do mentality,” hypocrisy at it deepest.  The audacity of those who are angry, but did not vote.

The Millennia’s, I would hope, will not follow in the footsteps of generation “X”.  Generation X, parents of Millennia’s, a population approximately 41 million are known as the generation having the lowest voting participation rate of any generation.  This election year, the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.  Generation Xers at one, quoted by Newsweek as “the generation that dropped out without ever turning on the news or tuning into the social issues around them.”  An attribute, giving prudence and possibly the missing links in effective communications today. But, it would be a misnomer to say that Millennia’s are the same, with iPhones at their fingertips, breakfast lunch, and dinner. The question is, will Millennia’s smell the bacon and seal the yoke?

As a Post-War Cohort, born in 1944, a veteran and a black man, I’ve navigated the minefields of discrimination, I’ve lived long enough to see the continued demise of our political process. The decaying of social values and the increasing fearfulness of everyday existence. The African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child,” has been used extensively over the years. But there’s another African proverb; “When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.”  

Human beings are creatures of habit rather than logic and defensive by nature, even when we are wrong. We perpetually destroy the moral fiber of our being as we try viciously to trump each other, “no pun intended.” The ultimate faith of America will depend on the unity of an interim new generation of thinkers, void of offensive tactics; a utopia, but not impossible. Millennia’s’ are known as incredibly sophisticated, technology wise, immune to most traditional marketing and sales pitches, many but not all, not only grew up with it all, they’ve seen it all and exposed to it all since early childhood. Time is running, outside forces are radicalizing our youth as we procrastinate our way to self-destruction in the name of self-initiated “internal fear.” A political philosopher by the name of Edmund Burke once wrote, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing.” “No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”   “Where Do We Go From Here: From A Call to Conscience” by DR. Martin Luther King Jr. should be listened to by every American.

Millennia’s, having a voting population expected to rise above 75 million for the mid-term 2018 elections, could be a game  changer. The combined effrontery of a younger creative mindset, united, selflessly giving positive input with the power to vote can become the epigeous for the inside the beltway mentality. Millennia’s make up over 25% of the U S population, having at least 21% of direct buying power and a huge influence on older generations. 46% of millennia’s have 200 plus friends on Facebook. These statistics alone would be a show of strength if unified.  “You can lead or you can continue to follow.”