What Millennials Should Take Away From Obama's Final #SOTU

“For this final one, I’m going to try to make it a little shorter. I know some of you are a little antsy to get back to Iowa.”

And with a pun that could be easily missed if you don’t keep up with politics, Barack Obama’s final State of The Union Address began.

Graphic from www.whitehouse.gov.

The State of The Union Address is simply that — a speech that occurs on the second Tuesday in January that is an oral report of where our country is regarding finances, foreign relations, new advances, etc. It is essentially the annual physical examination for Americans administered by our Commander-in-Chief at that time.

Barack Obama took to the podium with no time to be wasted and began listing the thing he’d like to see, including criminal justice reform, ending gun violence and fixing “a broken immigration system.” While listening to his words I could not help but to feel nostalgic. His final address to the nation and he was ending it on the same principle that he humbly began with eight years ago.

Change. 

Because no matter how far we have come post George W. Bush, no matter the strides we have made economically, technologically and socially [in the aspect of foreign relations] we still have a way to go. We still have milestones to reach, even milestones to be created. These goals that Barack Obama set out for eight years ago do not end with the next leader of our nation, but instead are passed on [hopefully] to continue to be reached.

That is where we, the millennials of the free world, come in. It is much deeper than the obvious “we are the future” angle, but rather we are the now. We will be looked to as the problem solvers of tomorrow but as for today we are reminded of why all of this even matters.

“It’s a lot easier to be cynical, to accept change is not possible,” Obama said Tuesday night, presumably to the generation caught in the cross hair of non-involvement in politics or taking action— and some of us are choosing the latter more than was ever seen in past presidential elections.

That is what the millennials should take from the State of The Union. Not only are we the future, we are the now. We are the driving force in whatever morals, laws, ideas and innovations come within the next 20 or so years. No matter who is elected in the 2016 presidential election, that fact remains.