D-Man retweetledi
Millennials, born roughly between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, grew up with a specific, linear blueprint for success. The mantra was simple and repeated everywhere—from parents to teachers: Go to school, pass exams, get a degree and the world will reward you, a dream we swallowed whole.
They woke up before dawn for morning preps, battled primary and high schools with trembling hands and hopeful hearts, sat national exams like they were tickets to freedom and graduated, only to enter a world that had moved on. A world where papers don’t open doors unless your name or your father's already carries weight. They had done everything “right,” but the system had not held up its end of the bargain.
Today, Millennials are the most educated generation—yet the most financially unstable. They are delaying marrying, house-buying and kid-having for longer than any previous generation and, according to older generations, our problems are our fault: We got the wrong degree. We spend money we do not have on things we don’t need. We still haven’t learned to code.
Mention “millennial” to anyone over 50 and the word “entitlement” will come back at you within seconds. This is what it feels like to be young now. Not only are we screwed, but we have to listen to lectures about our laziness and our participation trophies from the people who screwed us.
But generalizations about millennials fall apart under the slightest scrutiny. Contrary to the cliché, the vast majority of millennials did marketable courses, are tech-savvy and cannot lean on their parents for help - actually parents depend on them to provide for the family, pay their younger sibling's school fees - regardless of their employment status and financial capacity. The circumstances Millenials live in are more dire than most people realize.
They have turned to side hustles, gigs, digital spaces, anything to stay afloat, while constantly being reminded that they are not doing enough. All this while balancing the invisible burden of expectation, because even when broke, they are expected to send something home, contribute to funerals, and carry their siblings.
When Millenials look around, they see their older siblings stalled in their careers or unemployed, their parents stranded, having never achieved their dreams. Unfinished homes, their retired parents chasing pension for years on end, and some even dying without receiving a penny.
Their reformist political ideologies have faded as well. Millenials envisioned a government that implemented business-friendly policies, a bold, decisive leader who would dismantle political patronage and end corruption. Their overwhelming vote in 2022 was a loud message. Yet their choice - one that they thought capable - has followed this well-trodden path of political patronage, high-profile corruption scandals and using appointments to consolidate power.
Tired, Millenials have resorted to an exodus, as the country’s most talented youth - those who should be driving innovation, economic growth and governance reforms- are now choosing to chase opportunities abroad. A generation that could rebuild the nation is voting with it's feet, convinced success lies beyond Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
To those not as lucky, drugs have emerged as their comfort - and as addiction cases increase, desperation for money drives them to crime - ultimately resorting to suicide.
Millenials are simply surviving in a system that sold them a dream and handed them a hustle. One that still clamps down on those that attempt to rise with levies and court injunctions. They are not lazy—they are tired.
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