But seeing them correctly isn’t enough. The next step is to encourage them. Speak up when you see young adults in your life being kind, good, loyal or responsible. Encourage them if you can, and notice that they need it.
You can go further, too. Ask a Gen Zer in your life what they want to define them. Ask them what traits they want to develop—and then call out those traits every chance you get. Use the words that are important to them, and lift them up with love and consistency.
Most importantly, you can help model these things. Empathy, kindness, goodness, loyalty and responsibility cannot really be learned from a distance. We learn them from our closest relationships. Our ability to be empathetic, kind, good, loyal or responsible ourselves is very often connected to the people in our lives who are living those traits out already.
If Gen Z is running away, it’s a tragic loss for all of us—particularly since, during the election season, we are so desperately in need of empathy, community and understanding despite diversity of viewpoint.
So let’s run toward each other. Let’s start building relationships that will strengthen and deepen every single one of us, no matter what generation we belong to.
