Learning From Generation Y

This week we have been hosting a team of students from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. My alma mater. They are spending their last week of winter break with us volunteering in the ministries and at the Mount. They have been here since Sunday and leave tomorrow morning.

In addition to volunteering during the day, each night they have a team reflection where they discuss a different value or learn about the life of the Benedictines and then reflect on how that might apply to their experiences that day or throughout the week. I had the privilege to sit in on two of their sessions and it provided a lot of insight and reaffirmed my view of my generation.

If you haven't sat and talked with someone of my generation lately (I believe we are Generation Y), you might want to. We have a lot to offer, but we also really want to take everything in and learn as much as we can before we set out to make our mark on the world. Contrary to many reports you might read in the paper or see on T.V., we are not all self-absorbed and out of control. There are plenty of us out there that truly care about others, maybe even more than we care about ourselves. We volunteer our time, not just because it's mandatory for a class or because we have so many hours we need to complete before the semester is over, but because we really enjoy helping others. But that mandatory volunteer time may have been the spark that allowed some of us to realize the gifts we already had.

Hearing what the students had to say about their experiences this week makes me proud to be part of this generation, and happy to be a graduate of Canisius and an alum of their service trips. I have learned so much from them, and I hope they have learned a little from me as well.

So the next time you might have the chance to talk to a Generation Y-er, maybe you're sitting next to one on a plane or a bus, talk to us! You might be surprised at what you might learn, and we could still stand to learn from others, too.