What Does Real, Really Mean?

I never knew I’d live to see the day where real life as I used to know it, moved on with the Westerlies. When we were kids, we asked a lot of questions. Then ten more. As Millennials, we’re the last generation to witness REAL LIFE.

Think about it… We witnessed:

-The birth of the internet

-2 way pagers evolve into text messaging

-Apple go from Macintosh computers with Oregon trail as its kid friendly pastime, to literally changing the world. Apple revolutionized the way we communicate.

-The evolution of cell phones in general. I remember suitcases with cords. Big bricks with buttons, green screens, black numbers/letters, and a game called Snake. Not to mention the first color screens and camera phones.

-Professional Sports and Entertainment at its peak. We saw several stars come and go from the likes of Michael Jordan, Barry Sanders, Neon Deion, Michael Jackson, Prince, Tupac Shakur and The Outlawz, Notorious BIG and the Bad Boy Camp, Laface Records, Def Jam, No Limit Records, Cash Money Records, Roca Fella Records, Beyonce winded up being destiny’s, child. My memories make me sound old but I’m not yet 30.

We’re aging very quickly and are becoming more and more impatient by the second because every device we use, moves just as fast as the past. Remember dial up internet? It took a long time to load but we didn’t fuss too much, it was all we knew. Ever hear how spoiled you sound complaining about your WiFi? Don’t be petty, we come from the days where you had to choose between calling your girlfriend, or looking up the Lion’s record and statistics from last Sunday.

Now let’s take a look at the youth. The only ones who have an excuse to be fooled by the matrix, also known as social media. They’re growing up faster than we did because of the technology boom. Many of them are more lively on Instagram and Twitter than in real life and THAT’S THE PROBLEM! The things this generation sees as real life didn’t exist when we were growing up. Social Media for example.

People let social media control their lives. Some spend money intended for rent, mortgages, car notes, groceries, and other things of importance on clothes out of their price range, rental cars, and jewelry… for “likes”. Is that not a problem?

Do I use social media? Of course, I’m a millennial, we were the original members of social media. But, I’m a grown man now and I use social media for its initial purpose, networking!

So What Does Real, Really Mean?

At some point a little kid who looks just like you did decades ago, is going to ask with innocent ignorance, What does real mean? As the adult in the situation, it should set off an alarm, making you wonder: What would make one ask such an obvious question? Technology.

As Millennials, we are literally the last of a dying breed. Cliche right? Not really, especially when you take a look at the realities of the real world. College tuition rates are steadily rising to ridiculously high marks unseen by any generation before ours. Politicians aren’t following the rules of law, politics, or war and it makes us look bad as a people for electing them.

What’s really real, is in a country whose budget for military spending in 2015 alone was $600,000,000,000 (billion with a “b”) also has more than 32 million illiterate adults (14% of the US population). This has been a trend long before the Obama administration by the way.

So if a child ever asks you what does real mean, tell them “You live in a country that spends $600 billion+ on its military and about 1/3 of that, $215 billion+ on education. That’s as REAL as it gets.”

I want to thank everyone who has supported me so far, I appreciate it more than you know. Be sure to read my previous posts if you haven’t already and don’t forget to get your copy of Michigan International University from the home page, Amazon, and Createspace.

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