Are We Becoming A More Discontent Generation?
There is a certain old book, one that has existed for generations and revered by many, whose specifications for achieving “great gain” are broken into two layers. The first requirement has to do with Godliness (praying everyday, trying hard to avoid sin, all that), but apparently, even that is not enough. It has to be backed up by what we know as Contentment, which would usually entail that people be satisfied with what they have, make the most of it, and not try to live above their means.
Few years ago, I relocated to Lagos from the Southern part of the country. Besides the allure of the nation’s commercial capital, I made that decision for a number of reasons. First, there was the promise of greater opportunities in terms of career and individual passions, and then again, there was the promise of landing gigs which attracted a significantly higher remuneration than what obtained in the South-South; graduates who live outside the country’s biggest cities have had to settle for monthly salaries that are less than their NYSC federal allowance, and the poor distribution of functional economic and industrial structures across the geo-political zones means that the (relatively) developed states end up with a high population density, but that’s a discussion for another post.
My first job in Lagos had me going (or rather, trudging home) with the sum of sixty thousand naira at the end of each calendar month. At the time, there wasn’t much to hold on to after taking care of transportation, feeding and (of course) mobile data expenses. I could not afford to send any stipends to my family back home, let alone toy with the idea of visiting any of the city’s thriving clubs or lounges on the odd weekend. Months later I was more “gainfully employed”, but with a bigger pay cheque came bigger responsibility, and the struggle to balance the monthly account statements continued.
These days I earn a lot more than I had coming my way on that first job, and now it’s easy to assume that I can step into a huge mall and just swipe my debit card without screwing my forehead into a wrinkle, alas, that’s anything but the case. I have to pay for a bigger apartment, there are siblings whose education I am now responsible for, and my phone keeps ringing to the tone of debit alerts. The rat race has become more heated, and the cheque keeps getting stretched to its limits.
The truth (and uncomfortably so) is that this state of affairs is one that resonates with more than two-thirds of today’s millenials. The chase for a better life gets intensified by the minute, but with each milestone, there are even bigger financial hurdles, and like Super Mario’s search for the elusive Princess Toadstool, the end is hardly ever in sight. It is probably down to a number of factors, ranging from inflation to higher costs of living, from adjusted financial benchmarks to an expanded catalogue of demands, but the question is, why is so difficult for today’s active population to be content by way of maximising the finances at their disposal? Has it become difficult for us to keep our heads above water, are we caving in to the pressure flowing from demands with debatable levels of priority, or are we just plain “greedier” nowadays?
This is worth pondering, because somehow our parents (or a good number of them, at least) managed to sufficiently provide for us with significantly less. It could be argued that the economic terrain is a lot different from what existed two to three decades ago, but even then, take a look around, and there’s a chance that you would find people who juggle a wider scope of financial commitments with a much smaller salary. In large organisations with defined structures, it is common to find janitors, dispatch officers, drivers and security guards who still manage to send their children to school (and even buy landed property) while earning a figure that is less than one-third of what finds its way into your bank account on each pay day.
What then, is the problem? Some would be eager to cite sophistication and exposure as a primary source of our discontent, but our parents were educated, no? Sure enough, there is the disillusionment caused by glossy Instagram photos, expertly edited Facebook photos and unwitting comparisons by parents (I was continually teased about settling down and reminded about my married friends on my last visit to my family), but it’s a lot more complex than that.
We are curved in the Direct Messages section of Twitter because our profile photos do not point out appreciable levels of affluence, we wear out those who love us because our own perceived inability to cater to our needs and theirs makes for a reluctance to commit, and we feel like also-rans for as long as we have not measured up to the parameters of success laid out by our social environment. If the recent WHO report is anything to go by, more and more millenials are sinking into depression too. It’s dark, and there is no hint at the existence of any illuminated opening in sight.
The jury is still out on whether we have it harder these days or it is our appetite for the finer things that have grown more insatiable, but the point is, we are farther from that old injunction that borders on matching good behaviour and contentment. We want more, and that’s not a negative thing, but when can we say we now have enough to live on, scratch that, will we ever get to the point of admitting that we have enough?
