Voices from the Millennials: We Are Not the Lost Generation

By Molly Yee, GenerationDrive Volunteer Model

Walking up to the GenerationDrive photoshoot that morning on October 18, the one thought going through my head was, “What the heck am I doing here???” I am not a professional model. Nor am I a passionate activist or generous philanthropist.

 I am an unemployed registered nurse and recent college graduate, 25 years old and babysitting for a living. I voted in the recent presidential election and haven’t given politics much thought since. I am a good person and enjoy hanging out with friends and living in the moment while I wait for my life to start. In short, I am GenerationDrive’s target audience.

 So looking at it that way, I guess I really did belong at that photoshoot. And once I stopped worrying about my lack of modeling experience, I actually had a lot of fun. I’m probably the most awkward person you will ever get in front of a camera, but Jamie and Eric were happy so I just continued to enjoy the best Monday ever- I was fed, watered, had my hair and make-up done and a killer outfit picked out for me, and got to strut around like a movie-star all day.  If that was my fifteen minutes of fame, I’m glad that I got to represent something worthwhile.

 If you had asked me what this worthwhile cause was upon my arrival, I couldn’t have told you.  Thankfully Jamie stepped in and explained WHY we were all gathered at the Academy of Art at 8 am and what the goals of GenerationDrive were. Talking to her was awesome. I heard a level of passion and conviction in her voice that I really haven’t heard from people my age when discussing politics or world affairs. It actually reminded me of my parents when they talk about growing up during the Civil Rights Movement or the experience of being Asian-American in the 1950’s.

 When my parents talk about their twenties, their stories reflect courage and the knowledge that they were part of something bigger than themselves, and although I know I’m lucky to not be faced with the same difficulties, I’m envious of their strength in their convictions and that they helped to shape the world I live in today. While I want to be greater than I am and influence the world around me, I am comfortable with my life; it is difficult for me to see beyond myself to the rest of the world and the connection we share, and even more difficult to begin to fathom that I could possibly affect change.

 This is why GenerationDrive interests me. It seeks to give a louder voice to those of us that weren’t pulled from the womb shouting into a megaphone… Those of us that are wandering, feel average, or are drowning in school loans… the millions of people my age that get lost in the shuffle of our everyday lives. Even more than that, it brings us all together and creates a community within which you CAN network and find other people that share your ideals because a) there are SO many of us and b) the simple defining factor of the community is wanting to be more and create our own tomorrow.

 It’s hard to know where to start when it’s just you. But with GenerationDrive, I realized that it’s never just you. And now there’s a way for us to meet one another.

 The best part though, was that by the end of the day, I didn’t just feel like I was a face for the GenerationDrive campaign- I was part of it. I WAS part of this new generation; one that is not lost but that is coming to greatness, not just because we are called to it in times of trouble but because today, we choose to be more and to actively create the world we wish to live in. We are a new generation J