Still, in the wake of the election, everywhere I see, whether it is political or not, there is some person from an older generation calling out my generation for being crybabies. For a frame of reference, let explain what a Millennial is. For one, it seems no one can agree on what the first year is the "Millennial" generation. Some say it started in the 70's, others say the mid 80's. Regardless, it mostly pegs people ages 18-34. We are known as lazy, poor, have a tendency to move back in with our parents, and not contribute anything good to society. We are seen as the generation that got a trophy for everything, and were coddled, and made to feel that we could do anything. This is all true. We get paid significantly less in jobs due to inflation of the dollar over time, and since prices are raised themselves, it is hard for the average millennial to pay for college themselves. Yet, because of all of this, generation X, and the baby boomers look down on us like we are meek prey, just trying to skirt by and hide while our predators make it so we can come above ground.
You may look at us and ask, "How did they get like this?" As a child we can't cognitively understand our surroundings. We are raised to see what we see, and know what we know. You hear of people saying "Well you were lucky, as a child, we could ride around until dark with no supervision, we played behind dangerous buildings, and a belt wasn't seen as child abuse." But when we were children we were told about all of those things and how we should be grateful that we weren't experiencing it. My point boils down to this. We didn't coddle ourselves. We didn't give each other trophies for doing anything. We didn't ruing the economy before we were old enough to really partake in it. There seems to be some confusion as too the fact of how we got to be this way.
They are hiding on the message boards, trying to belittle us for being raised how we were raised. Want to know why so many Millennials are so liberal? Because many of us were raised to believe in the American dream, in a convoluted sense. When you can't go outside and experience things on your own, you think that people are going to help you reach the top when you are clearly still at the bottom. We take our right to protest, to have opinions, and to make them known. We invented Candy Crush, remember that. So stop hiding behind your computer, acting like you aren't even remotely guilty as to why your kids, your grandkids, your nieces and nephews, and your grandkids turned out this way. Not taking responsibility for helping to raise the generation that you hate on so much, is just as bad, if not worse, than belittling them.
I have held a job. Many of my peers have held a job. We make sh*t money. Minimum wage has raised, but so has tuition and the cost of food. I know how to make time for school, and work, and making food for myself, and I sure as hell know how to be a decent human being. You act like we are uncultured swine that do nothing. Take a look around you. I hold leadership positions on my college campus, others have high ranking jobs. We run media, news, science laboratories. Remember, we aren't snot nosed teenagers. Some of us are in our mid thirties. We are lawyers, scientists, politicians, inventors, writer, firemen, police officers, broadcasters, and advocators for the world.
If you are categorizing all Millennials as the minority that are doing nothing, then that is your problem, because we have the potential to be great. We are great.
I am a Millennial, but I am not a crybaby.
I am a Millennial, and my voice is being heard.
