We were also old enough to watch our parents lose careers, many had to extremely downsize their entire life. I was lucky enough to get a job just ahead of the recession but many of my peers had to fight 50 something year old career employees (who had just been laid off from a good job) for the privilege of working for 7.25 an hour at McDonald’s. Friends of mine had houses foreclosed upon and struggled to scrape enough cash together for basic essentials. I (and others) spent most of high school frantically working a minimum wage job so I’d have enough gas to continue to get to school. We watched parents fight and divorce and in some cases trade their health for a terrible entry-level job just so their families wouldn’t be homeless. You haven’t seen sad until you’ve watched a 17 year old teach a 55 year former banker (who had to beg for their job) how to work a popcorn machine in a movie theater concession stand.

Just because we weren’t in aviation during that time doesn’t mean we didn’t suffer as well. Parents’ stress and problems are rarely fully insulated from their kids, especially teens. We also had the foresight to see this change in the career and make moves and investments when things were terrible to reap the rewards now. My parents and many others strongly discouraged me from this career path but I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and took a leap of faith on it.

People wonder why millennials have no loyalty, and it’s because many of us watched parents who invested their entire adult lives into a company get thrown away like nothing during the recession.

Just another perspective.