Letter to the Editor: Millennials are Facing Challenges

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Dear Editor-In-Chief,

My name is Carlos Ascasibar, and I am a 30-year-old who is back in college to finish my education. In recent years, other generations have said that Millennials are lazy and entitled. As a Millennial myself, I beg to differ. Unfortunately, we have been put in a challenging situation and position compared to our parents and grandparents, who had a different course to what is considered the American dream.

The American dream is to go to college, buy a home, start a family and work until one retires. However, this dream has become harder to achieve. College can be way too expensive to afford, so this generation may choose not to pursue an education. Also, having families at an earlier age is not a viable option and buying a house has become extremely difficult.

I don’t believe we’re lazy or entitled. I believe we weren’t set up to succeed by the previous generations. We don’t all come from generational wealth, which affects most of the working class. According to an article from CNBC, Gen Z and Millennial generations ages 18-25 and 26-41 want to own a home someday or even now but the biggest obstruction is affordability.

The older generation needs to realize that the cost of living has rocketed compared to their generation. They need to have more empathy and not judge us, based on our speaking up and calling to action, on the fact that some of us can no longer afford education or to buy a home.

There’s a quote from Bernie Sanders that says, “For many, the American dream has become a nightmare.” I couldn’t agree more as some of us are not able to achieve those dreams until we as a united country begin to understand and help one another.

Ms. Madison, I hope that one day my wife and I will soon be able to afford to buy a home, one that our family deserves because we work hard, but apparently not hard enough, to be able to own a home. I hope that our leaders do the right thing and explore ways to provide better assistance for those that need it the most. This no longer needs to be a generation battle. We need to come together as one for the better of our country and for each generation to come.

 

Sincerely,

Carlos Ascasibar

Concord, CA