You know, we millennials get a heck of a lot of hate. There are a lot of definitions for what a millennial is, but from what I’ve experienced and found from a variety of sources, a millennial is anyone born in the early 1980's to the early 2000's. Baby Boomers and Generation X are always talking about how we millennials are “entitled” and “self-centered” and “too young to be as opinionated as we are” and whatnot. To be fair, sometimes these arguments are justified. Yes, sometimes we can have a sense of entitlement or be demanding or have a strong opinion, I'll give you that. However, in my humble opinion, the millennials are pretty dang great. For all of you non-millennials reading this, I’m not saying you’re wrong in your thoughts about our generation; you can have your own opinion, no worries. You’re pretty cool, too. Nonetheless, I’ve compiled a list of reasons why we’re awesome and you should give us a break or two every once in a while.
Quick shout-out to the Baby Boomers and Gen X for bringing us into this world. You rock.
1. College expenses have inflated a huge amount and we still go because #aspirations.
If we talk to our parents or aunts or uncles or grandparents they might tell us one of two things. They either did not go to college or they make a remark about “when I went to college, it was ___ amount of money.” This ___ amount is probably anywhere between $10,000-$20,000 less than what we millennials pay. However, a large percentage of us still attend college because we are ambitious as frick despite the fact that a lot of us will inevitably have loans at the end of our years of undergrad just to go into a failing job market.
2. We want love and we want peace.
Our generation is the generation of the Gay Rights Movement, the Feminist Movement, the Accept-People-Different-Than-You Movement, as I like to call it. We are one of if not the most accepting generations in the history of the United States. We think that every human is awesome and deserves to be treated that way.
3. We’re trying to fix the Earth that previous generations have polluted and contaminated.
I have vivid memories from my childhood of watching people throw McDonald’s bags full of garbage out their car window and into the street. Even now I see middle-aged humans tossing their garbage onto the ground. We are the generation that recycles, tries our best not to litter, and drive eco-friendly cars. We want the Earth to survive longer than we do, so we're going to make that happen.
4. Social media would not be here without us.
Evan Speigel, born in 1990, creator of Snapchat. Mark Zuckerberg, born in 1984, creator of Facebook. The list goes on. The rest of these caused these platforms to grow and be the inspiration for so many more. You’re welcome, world.
5. We appreciate playing outside and game nights.
Overall, social media and technology weren't really in existence until the early to mid-2000’s. The majority of us millennials were born in the 80’s or 90’s. We didn’t have an iPad to play on in the doctor’s office waiting room or Netflix to watch on a rainy day. No. We had Skip-Its that tore up our ankles, Lego’s that tore up our feet, and Furbys that tore up our psyches as they screeched in the nighttime.
6. We don’t take “no” for an answer.
This is controversial. The reasoning behind this one is that we know that in order to get anywhere important in this world, you have to work hard at it. You can’t take one rejection and give up. No. You have to question that “no” you received and change your ways or improve yourself because of it. We understand this concept and put it into action. We want to make a change in the world and we do that by questioning the norms and doing our best to be the best.
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