I heard James Hatch, a retired US Navy SEAL, interviewed on NPR about this essay. It’s worth your time and attention.
https://gen.■■■■■■■■■■/my-semester-with-the-snowflakes-888285f0e662
Hatch’s essay is on an apparently disallowed web site (*-ed out in post #0, but not hard to find with a web search) but the NPR interview transcript is here: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/30/792456855/52-year-old-former-navy-seal-james-hatch-on-his-first-semester-at-yale
I happened to be in the car and listened to the whole interview. It was so awesome. Loved that he now called himself “snowflakes” and not the students, and that those kids go at it hard! Opposite of snowflakes.
I couldn’t reach the link, but I found the article online. Wonderful!! I wish everyone would read it and take it to heart.
@ucbalumnus I figured my post would be denied when I was notified it was flagged for moderators. I’m glad they allowed it, even with a broken link, because it’s worth the Google search.
Interesting story. I wish he could’ve given more anecdotes from his first semester as well as other students’ perception of him.
College really is a time to learn about different people and viewpoints.
I read the article a few days ago - somebody shared it on facebook. I thought it was amazing. Sorry I missed the interview, but maybe I can find it on the NPR website. He really writes well. I was trying to process the image of this 52 year old veteran in a Yale freshman lecture hall when he mentions the service dog by his side (!) He didn’t live in the dorm did he?
He said he “moved” to Connecticut, so I assume he’s renting an apartment.
He sticks out in so many ways…52…covered in tattoos…service dog… Hopefully his presence continues its positive trajectory for all involved.
This has been my experience as an instructor at U of M.
Anyone who really thinks that Millenials and Gen Z (current college students) are a bunch of fragile snowflakes who have never lifted a finger and don’t know a lick about “the real world” has never actually spent meaningful time with young people.
Our lived reality is not what older generations make it out to be and it’s extremely frustrating to be constantly belittled and dismissed. This is the whole reason “Ok, boomer” became a thing.
1 Like
I agree Romani. I’m surrounded by gen Z and they work their tails off. Much harder than I did at their age.
The problem with this whole Snowflake thing is that you find entitled, spoiled people in every generation. It’s not just millennials who are spoiled. And it’s not just baby boomers either.
@romanigypsyeyes very true!
^^^ ITA! Making generalizations about entire groups of people doesn’t cut it. The older folks should cool it with all the talk about how much better it was back in the day. It wasn’t. Similarly, the younger folks don’t have to make assumptions about all boomers.
My assumption is that although it was never made explicit, the essay was written as a response to this op-ed by another Yale grad published on Veterans’ Day (unfortunately it’s paywalled):
https://www.wsj.com/articles/cold-welcome-for-veterans-on-campus-11573411754
A sample:
But don’t you ever feel like a sucker for serving?”
A fellow military veteran asked me this question a couple of years ago, when I was a senior at Yale. Like me, he had recently completed his service and was studying at a top university.
He said he was mystified, observing that the predominantly working- and middle-class people in the military swear an oath to defend with their lives the U.S. Constitution, including the First and Second amendments. Meanwhile, affluent college students regularly trash the First and seek to dismantle the Second. Are veterans being duped, he questioned, into believing they are upholding American values while the richest kids in the world—the ones being groomed for success and power—try to undermine them?
I’ll note that the guy who wrote that WSJ op-ed, Rob Henderson, is a pretty interesting character. He grew up living in 7 different foster homes, left home at 16, graduated high school with a 2.2 GPA then joined the Air Force. He’s now a Gates Scholar doing a PhD in Psychology at Cambridge (there’s more on his background here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/21/opinion/foster-child-conservative.html)
I didn’t interpret “snowflakes” as millennials or young people or the new generation. I thought the term applies specially to liberals who are supposed to be sensitive with political correctness, get offended about everything, etc. that sort of things.
One definition of snowflake:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/5115128/snowflake-generation-meaning-origin-term/
Who are these boomers who don’t remember being condemned because they had long hair or objected to war? I don’t know any of them (I was born in 1950.) They are probably the people who weren’t worth listening to back then. Don’t listen to them now.
I googled the essay, and it brought tears to my eyes. Wow.
I found the essay uplifting and thought provoking. Thanks @GKUnion !