Hope Heals: Gen Z feeling exhausted

By Mallory Stiles
Editor in Chief

If you were born anywhere between 1997 and 2012, you are a part of Generation Z. Unfortunately, that comes along with a pretty harsh reputation.

Luckily, Business Insider just recently posted an article giving some positive press to the Gen Zers. The magazine said that even though this is a generation often seen as lazy, 39 percent of Generation Z people hold down a full-time job AND a side-hustle.

Self-preservation has become our signature.

For me, writing to you guys is my side hustle, but the more I thought about it, the more I realize I am not that special. A lot of people my age have more than one way of making money. I just thought it was normal to struggle.

My best friend is a great example. She is a mom and an executive assistant, and has started to sell her own homemade bread on the side. It is absolutely delicious, but also a symbol of everything that is wrong with our economy today.

The middle class doesn’t exist anymore. The sooner we all understand this issue, the sooner we can repair it.

I know that it can be tempting to accept suffering as the norm when it is all we see, but we have to be willing to fight for better.

I know that I have written the words “write your Congress person” about a million times since working at The Lookout, but I write them because it really is our only secret weapon.

 To fight American wage inequality, every citizen must apply pressure to Congress to raise the federal minimum wage, especially for essential jobs that currently pay nothing.

It is important to remember the exhaustion that is felt by the American people is part of an oppressor’s tactic.

We are all tired but we cannot build on a broken foundation; that much we know.