#25 Paving the way to our own future
And a question of what our essential service will be.
Happy Independence Day to our Indonesian fellas! It seems strange to have a sacred flag hoisting and lowering ceremony online with only eight students as Paskibraka— flag bearers, while usually we have 68 youths representing Indonesia’s 34 provinces. All the guests from the former presidents and vice presidents, ambassadors, even the choirs were hosted online. Even so, the feeling remained the same: “Don’t give us any reason to unite as a nation— once we are free, it is ad-infinitum free!”
In the last edition of Salmon Mentai, we were talking about the most unforgettable moment in our workplace! Click here to read it back.
For this #SalMonday edition, Elsa is inviting the CEO of Innoscentia she mentioned for many times in the previous newsletter, his name is Erik Månsson! He is just two years older than Elsa, a great leader who is really caring to his team with a hilarious sense of humor.
His topic for this #SalMonday is:
“What is your responsibility as a generation?”
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Meiska
Happy Independence Day, Indonesia! I hope it baffles you the fact that this article of Western Union’s study, found that more than half of my generation worldwide —or Gen Y, or furthermore famous for “Millennials”— think of themselves as part of the world! Rather than just groups of youth coming from one nation.
It makes all sense! All kinds of pro diversity and equality campaigns are highly promoted by a lot of people my age! Whenever I scrolled down my Twitter timeline, at least two users are posting threads spilling any unfair or inspiring stories. They didn’t take long to catch attention and in a few hours later, a crowd funding and petition websites to support them were created! It’s great to know most of us are fighting for the same things and realize how important it is to be in the same voice.
Brought to work for the most popular sports in the country woke the hell out of me. It’s like a double-edged sword, that could stab through, as well as elevated me in different times —sometimes simultaneously. We are developing and improving, and of course aim to be one of Asian’s most feared teams! On the other hand, we are also facing huge supporters expecting perfect results. All these pressure, dynamics, and responsibility force myself to stand strong and survive along the way.
Here are my personal responsibilities as an individual, a working employee, and a generation:
To carry my own values
When we carry, radiate, and cling with our own values, we will feel it that nobody can mess with us. Although sometimes it’s like we are taken for granted, believe me it’s not. Because if that’s true, we’d know when to stop.
To be professional
To start and finish works properly and correctly are the easiest and the most basic example, but the hardest thing to do. I don’t always finish my job perfectly. But I always remember that I’m not alone and there’s never a wrong question. Ask shamelessly!
To give back
Absorb as many lesson as possible, as well as you share it!
Elsa
Unlike our grandparents who have been shaped by war, or our parents who have been shaped by newspaper and radio, we are shaped by social media and yoga (at least I assume there is no baby boomers or generation X reading this newsletter!). We are a generation who loves to work side-gigs instead of being a full-time employer, we crave for plant-based burger while questioning about the life purpose and the searching for happiness.
As a snowflake generation, we are used to be the overly sensitive productive ages who think that the world revolves around us. We’d love to be critical to the opposing values, we’d try to search for an escapade in safe spaces. If in 1980s there was a booming of censorship in nudity, now there is a rise of ‘trigger warnings’ on articles with sensitive content.
“It's exhausting to live in social justice era. If we want to frown, we need to think first to those who probably suffer more than us. If we want to be merry and celebrate our success, we need to think it might not be appropriate for others who fail. If we want to donate, we need to calculate first how much the percentage is from our wealth. There might be someone who think it’s merely a small donation we give, although we give it sincerely.” — Therese Claire
I also reflect this topic to my own self. What is my responsibility as a snowflake generation? I answer it related to the number-one cause of illness worldwide by 2030: depression.
I had talks with my friends. Never crossed in my mind that actually some of my close friends have had a mental health problem. I just had a talk with my junior in undergraduate, he was asking about my suggestion related to his current career life. In the end we had a serious talk about he had been going to psychiatrist and psychologists regularly in Indonesia (which is still uncommon to do it because it’s not easily accessible). He has had a problem of being a black sheep in his family resulted to the absence of sexual desire to any genders.
There is another friend of mind that have been suggested to be hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital (yes, Rumah Sakit Jiwa in Bahasa Indonesia), whereas we were often hanging out together in Jakarta and he seemed fine.
There are more of people in our generation who need support mentally. Most of them are afraid to talk, they think people might have a tougher life than themselves, resulted to a feeling that they do not deserve to raise their voice to share. I would say, there is no one in this world who has a heavier problem, nor a lighter one. Everyone processes his/her own life in his/her own level. We are fighting the same tough life together.
”In the end from my side, my responsibility is to be strong and vulnerable together with my generation. I want to make an impact with my scars. I want to give to others with my broken self.”
How do you interpret your own version of responsibility towards yourself? And your surrounding? Write it out in our comment section below!
“We are made wise not by recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future” — George Bernard Shaw
