When the term, “millennials”
comes to mind, most people often immediately think of the “Selfie Generation”
or at least, “The Generation with Too Much Self-Esteem.” While most people
think too much self-esteem is harmful – especially when a person used to
succeeding at school isn’t coddled like an infant – it’s actually better to
have a strong and confident individual rather than a meek and scared one.
There is a fine line between
having too much confidence and being arrogant - or in other words egotistical. A
confident person is looked on positively, and I completely agree with that. An
egotistical person on the other hand, is often regarded as annoying and a bit
aggravating. So to restate the question, instead of self-esteem, I believe the
question should be: Is Our Generation Confident or Egotistical?” The song by DJ
Khaled, “All I do is Win” can best describe a few kids I know at school who’ve
crossed the fine line between being confident and egotistical, where getting an
A on a test for which they didn’t study is a guarantee that the tests they do
study for and fail is entirely the teacher’s fault because they made it too
hard. Now that is egotistical.
Studying till 2 A.M. for that A.P. Chemistry test the following morning and
feeling like you’ll be able to do it, however, is confidence. And I believe
that my generation is a generation of confident people.
Confidence is the
ability to believe in oneself – that you are able to achieve things through
your own ability; It isn’t about impressing others or showing just how good you
are – its to simply give what you’ve got to the thing you’re good at. My
generation is the generation of high schoolers winning Grammys and Oscars, and
starting up their own magazines and even achieving Nobel Peace prizes for
global activism and for standing up for our human rights. I highly doubt it’s
egotistical or “too much self-esteem” but rather, I think it’s a more vibrant
confidence that every person ought to have – and I think most people my age
have that. After all, who do you think is more likely to start a business and
try again despite failing once? A student fresh out of
college or a retired citizen? I vote for the former.
Works Cited
1. Bekore,
Lynda. "Are Millennials Too Big to Fail? Why Self-Esteem Is Blocking Our
Kids From Success." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 5 Jan. 2015. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lynda-bekore/are-millennials-too-big-t_b_6416502.html>.
2. "Does
Your Generation Have Too Much Self-Esteem?" The Learning Network Does Your
Generation Have Too Much SelfEsteem Comments. 3 June 2010. Web. 6 Mar.
2015.
<http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/does-your-generation-have-too-much-self-esteem/?_r=0>.
