Why Millennials are Going to Bring Destruction, and Why That's Good

I grew up in a conservative, Evangelical, charismatic home in Seattle. It wasn't necessarily a fundamentalist home, but it was characterized by the common traits of Republicanism, conservative gender roles, purity culture, an inerrantist view of the Bible, and other things commonly associated with fundamentalism. I was lucky in that I wasn't in too deep and I experienced disorientation at a young age.

To make a long story short, my grandmother, a spiritual guide for my family, betrayed us and screwed us over. This led to a lot of re-thinking when it came to our worldviews. The long journey I have taken since then has mostly led me away from those roots. I'm a liberal, agnostic heretic, and I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore.

I'm also lucky because I turned out okay. I love being the rebel with a cause and without all the emotional baggage and catastrophes that come with being subversive. I've seen a lot of people who had the right spirit but went off the deep end. I've seen a lot of rebels who I rooted for who didn't end up okay. I'm lucky in that respect.

Many people got married and found that their preparation for marriage was jacked and so they ended up getting divorced. Others struggle with depression and suicide, and don't understand why they are the way they are, and they want to change but feel that it's impossible. Others can't help but go to the other extreme and become the opposite of everything their fundamentalist surroundings were. And others receded into their blind faith and embraced an ignorant bliss, because the alternative is just too daunting to them.

All of this is to say that fundamentalism really fucked up my generation. So many young people are experiencing the negative effects of their upbringing and trying to cope with them in different ways, and a lot of bad situations have come from it.

But I think there's hope.

We millennials are going to bring destruction. We're going to get rid of problematic religious claims, gender roles, systemic evils, and a lot of other things. We're not going to make it very comfortable for past generations. It might be painful and it will definitely be challenging, but know that it needs to be done. It won't always be done in the right way, but it needs to be done, because the world toward which we are headed is a better one. We won't just destroy, we will create, and we may not do everything right, but we'll make a better world than the one we grew up in.

Don't try to control us. Don't try to control people. Don't try to control your kids. Don't try to control your spouse. If you do, you'll just end up hurting them, and they'll end up hurting you in rebellion.

What we are seeing in a lot of places is the collective rebellion of millennials. Some is good, some is bad, and all of it is destructive some way. But it's also creative, and it's not comfortable, but it's worthy of trust.