What happened to ‘on demand ‘

 
What follows Generation X, the “lost generation,” the people who don’t trust institutions but hold to an “It’s my money and I want it now” instinct/ attitude?
The answer is … Generation Y, also referred to as the millennials.
Generation Y is supposedly the more educated and sophisticated generation that lacks social action but understands the irrelevance and political corruption of institutions, in other words those who “occupy” certain places without true action being forced.
We, Generation Y, need to get back to the “on demand” attitude that our predecessors had.
What’s so wrong with presenting a list of demands to a presiding committee informing them of how we feel towards a certain issue?
It’s obvious that we may acquire a limited vision to a certain agenda but we are absolutely aware of issues we don’t want to happen or occur. For instance, in reference to SU, the faculty and some students didn’t want to declare financial exigency for the Baton Rouge campus. When the declaration was set forth in public for the first time, community members, students, and faculty came out in unison to vocalize their feelings on the matter. Due to the overwhelming crowd in appearance, who adamantly opposed the declaration, the declaration wasn’t passed. It wasn’t until the following board meeting, when all the energy from the brief victory withered down, the declaration was passed with a 14-0 vote.
According to a study conducted by USA Today, the millennial generation “rewrote the rules” but compared to Generation X, in my opinion we haven’t done that much to live up to that label.
Using the prior example, why aren’t those who attended the first board meeting still fighting against the declaration of financial exigency?
Why do we gain a lot of energy and become mad for a moment at a particular unjust situation, but all of a sudden forget about the whole problem?
That’s the main difference I observe between Generation X and Y.
If we look back through the annals of SU history, the Smith and Brown incident was a pure example of having an “on demand” attitude. According to the Advocate, Denver Smith, Leonard Brown and a group of faculty members and students simply presented a list of demands to the administrators, which included better housing conditions, better classroom settings and a bold voice in policy-making decisions. Smith, Brown and others of that generation made their imprint in history, by making sure their demands were taken seriously.
Unfortunately, Smith and Brown lost their lives for the cause of a better and competitive SU, which is a risk Generation Y is apparently afraid of.
In our claim of being sophisticated and supposedly better educated, our senators, board committee members, and congressmen offices should be bombarded with letters, emails, and phone calls voicing our concerns, our input, and our disapproval of certain unjust conditions, in this case SU financial management, operations and procedures.
We, Generation Y, need to challenge ourselves and become more involved with what’s going on around us within our communities and our everyday settings for it’s every human beings obligation to make a difference for the next generation to appreciate.