So I'm at dinner, sitting next to Master Trial Lawyer, who was my boss for the last three weeks. MTL is the kind of person whose performances in the courtroom are discussed around the firm with quiet reverence. "Oh, if MTL is crossing you, you're dead."
"So Trevor," my examination begins, "you're part of this Generation Y, right?"
Instinctively, I take evasive action. "They're not really sure what to call us yet. They're trying out a bunch of names. I don't like 'Gen Y', because it doesn't mean anything other than 'after Gen X.' Derivative." Never accept their definitions. "I've heard 'facebook generation' or 'generation whatever.'" Speak by attribution, avoid using your own words. "Actually, in college, there was a cover story in Time about 'Generation 9/11' and what we were all supposed to be like. I cut it out and put in on the wall to remind myself that that is who they think you are." Having dodged, change the subject. Give them something juicy to chase. "That alone doesn't define us. I mean, it's definitely a 'where were you when Kennedy was shot thing' but I don't think it defines anyone's thinking."
The twin golden apples of 9/11 and Kennedy send the conversation veering off course for a while, but all too soon MTL brings it back home. "Let's get back to my question. Notice how that last answer was entirely unresponsive." I'm back on the hook.
Cornered, I try to beg off. "Well, I don't want to proclaim myself as some kind of voice of our generation. That's Zach Braff's job. And I certainly don't want to be Zach Braff." Scattered chuckles. Good audience. But MTL is having none of it. I am going to be Zach Braff, whether I like it or not. Junior Associate jokes that dinosaur partners like to grouse that all young people are so 'mercenary' these days. This is not a sentiment I leap to endorse.
I splutter and flounder for a bit, until someone throws me a lifeline by telling a Stephen Colbert story. Knowing a good hook when I see it, I segue into an exegesis of my cohort's storied cynicism. "Now this may not be all that new. My parents didn't trust anyone over thirty, we just don't trust anyone at all."
Ironically, they are suspicious. Not trust anyone? "I think it's more that we don't believe in long-term promises." If anything, incredulity increases. "I mean, half of us are children of divorce. There's no such thing as job security any more. No one I know expects to actually get social security when we retire. Certainly nobody trusts the government to look out for them." I'm feeling the flow, so I forget to rattle off the familiar failures: Iraq, Katrina, 9/11. None of us can remember a president who wasn't a famous liar. "And of course you can't trust corporations either." Pension raiders too become victims of momentum. "Wherever you see big important institutions making long-term social, informal promises, we see those promises being broken. So we don't trust them any more. In law school we learn about the historical transition from relationships based on status to relationships based on contract. Maybe this is just the next step. Maybe in that sense, we are more mercenary."
MTL is satisfied, and leans back with a playful smirk. A solid answer. I'm out of the woods.
Until Junior Associate surprises me with a flank attack. "You don't believe in long-term promises? What about marriage?" he asks, casting a meaningful glance at his wife, seated next to me. Finding myself in a hole, I resume digging.
4 comments:
Deep stuff.
There's no way I would have tried to define our generation, except to say that we seem more interested in all that "value," "lifestyle," "seein' my kids" stuff than the stereotype of our dads' generation...I might have said creative or free-flowing instead of mercenary (sounds like something I should get money for, which seems unlikely).
But I also think we're just making it up based on our ten friends and how they seem. I would have concluded with something lame like that, and then said, "You know the good old days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seeeeeeems..."
I'm pretty sure Gen X was the generation that started off trusting no one, and Gen Y inherited that and Britney Spears. But excellent answer, Trevor.
Well it's certainly not the whole answer. One of the partners said a big change he noticed was that young people would prefer to work 30% less for 30% less pay. While true, that was another sentiment I was not eager to casually endorse in front of my bosses. I had talked aout it before with other lawyers, and the problem is that pay is something you can see and be sure of, but as an outsider you can't tell how many hours attorneys really work. And again, you can't trust empty promises that you'll work less.
And the above may not even be a complete part of the answer. It doesn't square, for example, with our renewed interest in politics. If we're all so cynical, why do so many people my age love Barack Obama?
How can we not love Obama? Have you seen that ass?
Anyway, very interesting story - all the more impressive because it was based on actual events. I'd feel pleased with myself for just coming up with those thoughts on paper, let alone actually spouting them off to a partner on the fly.
Interesting stuff, Trevor. You're an interesting dude.
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