Look at Me!

I was recently listening to Greg Laurie on the radio and he mentioned a USA Today poll of Millennials, young Americans born after 1982, who said what they wished for most in life, is to be rich and famous. We certainly see this with You Tube and some of the crazy things that go on. But, I thought it was interesting that he related it to the fact that this generation of kids grew up with a camera in their face every time they did anything. First smile, first tooth, first haircut, first day of school, first job…

They were also rewarded for everything they participated in. Many groups created special awards so that everyone in the group got one for something and no one felt left out.

This has added to an “everybody look at me” mentality.

The daughter of a friend of mine went on a trip to Europe this summer with a high school group and my friend told me she had to sit and look at the 350 pictures her daughter took when she got home.

I had a similar experience when Brittany got back from the Alpha Gamma Delta International Convention in San Antonio a couple weeks ago. Except ours was done long distance. Brittany uploaded around a hundred pictures to her Facebook profile and then connected by phone and the internet, we went through each picture as she told me who was in it, what they were doing at the time, what they had ever done in their past and on and on.

I was not allowed to look ahead and she would quiz me on what I was looking at just to make sure I hadn’t.

Some of it was quite interesting. They took 17 charter buses of sorority girls from the Marriott River Walk to a ranch for an evening of BBQ, hayrides and games. One of the games was an armadillo race and she had lots of pictures of the contestants. I had never seen a live armadillo before! Who knew they were so round? John and I lived in Oklahoma for a short time and the joke was that armadillos traveled north from Texas to commit suicide on Oklahoma highways. They certainly were never round when I saw them!

Brittany also pointed out a picture of 5 of the girls standing by a long horn steer. She said right before the picture was taken, one of the girls said, “This isn’t a good angle for me.” To which Brittany replied, “Your standing next to a cow! You look good!”

I saw the close ups of the martinis from the Martini bar, a picture of an 85 year old woman who had been an Alpha Gam for 67 years and one of the tour guide on the river cruise who told the girls that if they got a little crazy that night and fell in the river, they should “Just stand up. The river’s only 3 feet deep.”

But, better then all that I also saw in my daughter someone who isn’t a “look at me” person, but a person who is genuinely more interested in other people. And I liked that.