Now: 300.
I discovered this morning that radio can be dangerous. There I was, driving along a perfectly straight road, when over the radio came the news that a Canadian survey has discovered that Millenials - otherwise known as Generation Y (I maintain that it was originally 'Generation "WHY?"') or Generation Whiners, expect to, or at least assume that they will, receive - on average - three hundred THOUSAND dollars each from their parents in the form of an inheritance. I almost drove into oncoming traffic as I yelled ":ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" at the car radio (hence the bit about radio being dangerous).
A few things immediately occurred to me about this:
- They'd better not have asked my kids about this (they can't have, surely, or else the average number would have been much lower....wouldn't it?).
- Is this (Generation EGB*) our fault?
- How can we make this all the fault of Generation Y?
In the interests of honesty, I should also point out that it also reminded me of a personal issue (which I won't go into details about) which falls within the realm of inheritances and dovetails with the subject of fucking unfair. Oh did I accidentally add emphasis then? Sorry.
So - is this our fault? Have we raised our children in such a way that we are to blame for this kind of expectation or sense of entitlement? Certainly, I feel a sense of responsibility for the undeniable fact that my kids don't have the same kind of awareness that I am 99% sure that I had at their age. However, my young 'uns would not be so daft as to expect a huge inheritance from me - we're simply not living that lifestyle. In fact, our lifestyle is almost the opposite of the societal 'norm', in that we're downsizing and simplifying our lives, and money is less and less of a focus for us.
But still...for everyone else, just where does this kind of expectation come from?
I don't understand it. As a result, I am diverting all of my cognitive abilities (the energy from which is sufficient to light up a 0.5 watt LED for precisely one tenth of a second) towards making this nonsense entirely the responsibility of that entitlement-ridden, whining, largely helpless and, I fear, somewhat doomed generation....