Growing up, we all heard the phrase from our mothers, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Now, whether my mother believes me when I say I do this is questionable, but no one ever knows the words you chose not to say.

In recent years, I have seen a cliché begin to form: "Millennials are offended by everything." I won't say whether it's true, and I certainly won't speak for an entire generation.

But have we all become over-sensitive? We fight over things that matter and things that don't. On the internet, we have opinions on literally every topic. We tweet every emotion we have, as if to search for another human to have the same feelings as us. And when people don't have the same feelings, opinions or ideas as us, it's like we've been attacked. Since most millennials right now are in the phase of life where we are trying to find ourselves, everything we believe, enjoy, or live out has to be defended against those who don't have the same views as us. It seems that if we aren't exactly the same then we are polar opposites.

So where did this ideology come from? We don't even like the conversation of talking about our differences. We make generalizations about a whole group from singular and extreme circumstances without looking around us at alternate, good examples that have been made. We call those who make generalizations narrow-minded without asking why they made such assumptions. We have conversations but no one says anything. We fight and defend without offering solutions. And since we're young adults, we say "Oh well. We'll grow up and figure it out."

Unfortunately, I look at our country's Congress, the 2016 Election, other politics and major social issues and see the same thing. We are split down the middle. We watch the media and think we have all the facts, make assumptions and then don't ask questions. We've lost the fire. We've stopped caring. We only want to see the entertainment and drama, not the real-life implications or responsibilities.

Nothing is special about me or my opinions. I grew up in a little house in small town North Carolina. I went to church. I went to school. I had friends who looked like me, talked like me, and had most of the same ideals as I grew up believing. The only thing that would make my life different from the rest of suburbia is my parents and how they raised me, my mom, being the most compassionate and open-minded person you could ever meet, and my dad being a more stubborn and opinionated man. I often watch them and wonder how in the world their relationship has lasted for thirty years.

Moving six hours away from home and being thrust into an environment with 30,000 people changed a lot about how I live, my views, and how I treat people in a short year. Now no one really looks like me, few talk like I do, and even fewer have the same values. But I always look back to my two favorite people when I find opposition in my new setting. Their secret has always been to talk directly, find where the agree and where they don't. And when they don't they compromise. If there is no compromise to be had they keep things separate. They understand that while their lives are intertwined forever, they are still individuals.

Maybe our generation could take this "sensitive" reputation and turn it into a productive marriage. Maybe we stop bashing and hashing, to instead find common ground and build a better foundation. We all have to coexist, and we might as well make the best of it.