You Are Good Enough

by Gray Graham

​It’s hard to be a young adult today with a good heart. You have the old people blaming your generation for everything that is wrong in the world today that their generation caused and they are mad that you aren’t fixing it fast enough. Then you have the young adults that are your age that don’t really seem to care about the problems of the world and are willing to let everyone suffer because they can’t have everything they want.

As a young person you work as hard as you can to do your very best in life, like your parents and grandparents before you, but it seems like in today’s world the most basic things seem impossible. When you look online you see so many people with fancy cars, nice big penthouses in the city, who are traveling the world, living a life of luxury. Like how are they doing that when all the jobs you see offer like $12/hour with a master’s degree. Is everyone else a pro gamer, Youtuber, rapper, hooper, model, and football player?

You don’t want all of that though; you just want to be able to go school, pay your bills, have a nice place to live, and not starve. It would also be nice if people wouldn’t pollute the world or take away all your basic human rights before you turn 30. Finding a comfortable pair of pants that has pockets would be nice too.

Growing up is supposed to be hard but it is not supposed to be this hard, especially when you are young. You are supposed to be learning about life and discovering yourself, not trying to prevent the extinction of mankind or save the planet from destruction. You are supposed to be learning how to buy groceries and toilet paper, not teaching an old person how not to hate change and anyone that is different. You also aren’t supposed to be teaching your peers not to eat paste or lay across railroad tracks while trying to catch legendary Pokemon. 

You, my young friend did not ask for these burdens and to be honest you really don’t have to pick them up. As you can see others aren’t too keen on joining your labors. It’s easier to blame everything on you and guilt you into fixing it, than to be a leader to show you the way. Lucky for you there are plenty of older leaders out there that have been doing the work for a lifetime but sadly they don’t have much help from their peers either.

The thing is that when you are truly a good person you are pretty much always going to walk alone especially when you are young. Most young people are not trying to be super responsible and dedicated when they are young. Our society’s culture is built on young people being reckless and careless. All of societies ills are always blamed on those reckless young punks that cause trouble instead of following the great examples of the elders.

I am here to tell you my friend that you are doing just fine, whatever your current station in life. You don’t have to finish college by a certain age. You don’t have to be earning this amount of money at this age. You don’t have to have your own place at this age. You don’t have to be married at this age. You don’t have to have kids at this age. You definitely don’t have to join this group and start acting like one of them by this age.

Yes, the majority of people your age are going to do all the above because they don’t know anything else. It’s what is expected of them; what they have been taught their entire lives, but we already know that these things don’t bring happiness into your life. You are not going to be filled with joy just because you are married, have a good job, have a house, and have a large bank account. Plenty of people have all of this and are miserable. Plenty of people have none of that and are filled with joy everyday. 

And that is the most important thing you need to always remember, you can only do your best and you have to find peace in that. Whatever your best is that is good enough for God and your best will never be good enough for people. They will always want more from you when you have given them all that you have to give. 

The world had a lot of problems before you were born and it will have a lot of problem after you die. It’s not any one generation’s job to be perfect and fix the world. Spend your time enjoying life and sharing your joy with the people you love. I am sure that whatever you do will be greatly appreciated by the people that care about you. In the end that is what matters the most.

Take care young ones and know that God is always with you. You are doing just fine.