Kevin Wheeler’s post on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=3784685614897437&set=a.560409250658439
Imagine you were born in 1900.
When you’re 14
World War I begins
and ends at 18 years old
with 22 million dead.
Shortly after, a global pandemic
Flu called ‘Spanish’ “,
kills 50 million people.
You come out alive and free
You are 20 years old.
Then, at 29, you survive the global economic crisis that started with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, causing Inflation, Unemployment, and Hunger.
At 33, the nazis come to power.
You turn 39 when World War II starts and ends at 45 During the Holocaust (Holocaust), 6 million Jews die.
There will be over 60 million deaths in total.
When you’re 52, the Korean War begins.
At age 64, the Vietnam War begins and ends at age 75
A boy born in 1985 thinks his grandparents have no idea how difficult life is, but they have survived several wars and disasters.
A boy born in 1995 and now 25 years old thinks it’s the end of the world when his Amazon package takes over three days to arrive or when he doesn’t get more than 15 likes for her photo posted on Facebook or Instagram. ….
In 2020, many of us live comfortably, have access to different sources of home entertainment, and often have more than we need.
But people complain about everything.
However, they have electricity, phone, food, hot water, and a roof over their heads.
None of this existed before.
But mankind survived far more disastrous circumstances and never lost the joy of living.
Maybe it’s time to be less self-escaped, stop complaining, and stop crying.
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My thoughts and reaction:
No one denies that someone born in 1900 and lived about eighty-five years of age didn’t have or experienced challenges. If history has taught us anything, is that every generation experiences a new set of challenges and old ones that resurfaces. But complaining about someone who is twenty-five years old, who is complaining about a package that has taken longer to arrive, or about their likes on Instagram, can be seen as hypocritical to post about on Facebook. You are doing exactly the same thing, and not being humble enough about it…
First of, to lump all people born in 1995 or the years that precede before and after is a fallacy because not everyone born in 1995 complains about simple things like that, such as those first-world problems. In other words, generalizing can’t be applied here, because I am 25 years old and I don’t complain about certain things like that (although the package situation is debatable for me). I’m sure many other people around my age don’t as well. Also, not everyone has these first-world problems, especially when third-world countries still exist, not to mention that there are people who are still in poverty in America today. I am aware that poverty is relative, meaning that being poor by American standards is not the same as being poor in other countries such as the so-called third-world.
There’s another point of view, that without these complaints, (such as a package getting to its location on time), is the reason for progress that benefits everyone. That is to say, the customer’s complaint could be a reason why the next time you order something on Amazon, your package will get to you on time, if an employee sees the complaint or if the customer sends a complaint to the company Amazon and they will try to fix the issue or improve their packaging processes to improve customer’s satisfaction. Package issues will usually always be around because problems can always arise that can’t be predicted or prevented as it can only be improved upon to make it less so. For example, the package gets lost, mislabeled, or the truck gets stuck, and so forth.
Amazon probably does a good job of making sure packages get to people on time or at least close to the time it says. Complaining can be seen as a positive or as negative. Where on the one hand, it brings about creativity, which gives room for ideas to come about to create something better or improve upon a service or a product for one’s own comfort or satisfaction. On the other hand, it is negative because many people don’t want to hear people complaining, at least not all the time such as the guy (Kevin) who posted his opinion on Facebook. In other words, what I mean is that complaints and the act of people complaining are tolerable to a certain extent. Instead of just making a post to make your point across, you could talk to the person, you can teach them a thing or two that you know such as your (wisdom) and in return, they can teach you a thing or two about their generation with their knowledge and wisdom.
Another thing that I shall point out is that people born after 1995, let’s just say the 70s, 80s, 90s, and up because they make up the generations who are still alive today, have also faced many challenges and will encounter future obstacles. As I’ve said before, every single generation goes through struggles, and yet people can overcome many of them. The 20th century was a wild ride for that generation, a century that brought about the innovation of technology that may or may not been entirely influenced by the social issues and the conflicts at hand. If it wasn’t for the wars, many of the technologies and inventions we still use today wouldn’t have come about. This does not mean that I am advocating for war, as I would rather if people could live in peace. You can also make the case, If it wasn’t for pandemics and other diseases, many of the modern medicines wouldn’t have been created either.
The 21st century is still in its infancy stage because it is the year 2020 going on to 2021 soon, so that is about two decades into the century. One has to be patient and wait till the year 2085 ((about an average human life span (79), brought about by modern medicine)) or until the end of the century until the year 3000AD to judge this century in its entirety. Certainly, we can make predictions, and see where we are headed with our current advancements in technology and the path we are headed by studying history. But predictions can only get one so far; they will not or do not always come true as some may be flawed. There may be many more struggles and I’ll argue there will no doubt be new obstacles. Such as new diseases surfacing and dealing with climate change. Society’s struggle can be viewed as either good or bad. Good in the chance or the ability to overcome the struggles/challenges that are current today and ahead, and bad in the sense we end up failing to overcome them and end therefore become extinct. We shall wait and see if mankind will thrive and prosper or decline and fail, as I’ll try to be somewhat optimistic because people (humanity) have this unusual ability to adapt to change and overcome challenges.
The moral of this story is that, instead of just complaining about another person complaining (as this guy Kevin Wheeler did), maybe you can humble yourself a tad bit. Learn from every generation because everyone has something of value for you to understand yourself and the world better. Instead of letting anger get the best of you, you are letting and seeing yourself far removed or divided from the newer generation and that is a tragedy. Perhaps, I am falling into this trap, by not reaching out but rather reacting to this vicious cycle by doing the same thing Kevin is doing, by responding to his post, as he responded to another person’s post. I have never argued online with people, and rarely or not at all ever respond to anyone’s comment.
Overall, I don’t exchange with strangers online on social media and mostly use it to message a friend or family member. I am not saying I am better than anyone else for my inactivity to post, I still do observe everything that is going on on the internet and on a few social media platforms. I have made the decision to not participate online consciously for many reasons and one deals with privacy. That is to say, I am the same authentic self on social media (or I try to portray myself the same way) as I am in the real world, and that is private, reserved, and quiet. The difference is that I can see his point of view as well as others. I try to reflect the best I can and with a clear-headed mind and rationality to make the best decisions. I want to see things clearly for what they are and not what they appear to be. There is a way to separate illusions and reality and reality is what I seek to obtain through an understanding of this illusionary world. But there’s a lesson to be learned in all interactions, especially on social media, and that is it doesn’t hurt to be humble about your approach to make your judgments and put yourself in other people’s shoes. In other words, I respect others’ opinions, although I may not always agree with them. One can still learn to listen to others with an open mind and positive emotions instead of just negative feelings.
Social Scholarly 