In Defense of the Youth
You hear, “By thirty I owned land!”
“I carved out my life with a steady hand!”
Like an in-your-face proof of worth or grit
The voice forgetting the world has shifted bit by bit
Back then a home was closer in reach
About three times a typical yearly salary
A number that felt like breath…not siege
Where houses weren’t priced past a dream
In 1970 median homes were three times income
Today this number swells and is incredibly burdensome
Inflation isn’t just a story told
It’s why you work and still cannot get a foothold
The same gates those voices walked through
Slammed shut as home costs feverishly grew
Far outpacing incomes from the 60s and 70s
Voices speak of hard work always wins
But ignore the weight life now pins
Certifications skills retrained
Jobs remade without notice careers upended
Hop from one to the next not by choice
But because survival now requires noise
Voices see constant reinvention as lack of poise
Voices brag of twenty or forty-year streaks
Steadily pensioned and secure at peaks
But forget this world no longer stands
Benefits shrunk and reworked by greedy hands
Those golden ladders they climbed
Now rusted out or redesigned
Voices whisper, “You change jobs too fast!”
As if it’s the youth’s fault storms are cast
But research supports young workers
Staying roughly as long as they always did
A stat on the youth conveniently hid
It's not laziness just life’s new script
Where stability is tougher to grip
Then came the pandemic a pivot unplanned
Work from home became a common stand
Some found comfort balance and breath
Only to be told return to an office instead
Hoping youth falls for collaboration voices said
While corporations shield real estate overhead
Tax breaks and commerce pressures quietly fed
Fuel costs rising schedules tightening
Car miles burning with each dawn brightening
A budget blown and stress ignited
By sudden changes never invited
Now offices demand your seat more days
Even after remote proved productive ways
And voices forget the costs unseen
Rents rising alongside bills obscene
Healthcare childcare every basic need
Marks a world where youth still bleed
To balance hope with daily cost
Dreams not lost but nearly tossed
If you hear the voices say, “We did it so can you!”
Remember no two worlds were ever built with the same view
The world that raised the aged
Was a gentler wage and cheaper stage
But today’s youth stand strong resilient and engaged
Navigating storms left by the disengaged
To you the ones they call the youth
You are learning to ask burning questions and find truth
Not lazy or soft but proven and true
You adapt and fight to push on through
And know this too
Some of us are listening to you
We hear the weight behind each step you take
The math that never balances the stakes
The future handed down cracked and skewed
Solutions left incomplete and crude
We stand beside you with respect and care
Ready to lend our voice and time to share
Trusting your hands to shape this world anew
More just
More livable
Kinder and true
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