I am a millennial.

I am part of a generation that defies categorization. According to Dictionary.com, we are the generation born in the 1980s or 90s, although other definitions span a broader number of years, even going as far as the early 2000’s. We are young adults. I consider the millennial generation to be people who are my age, late teens and early twenties. College students.

For quite some time, but especially in the last year, I have heard and read negative articles about my generation. I acknowledge and accept that not every person is the same. Within my generation, there are many differences between people and many different ideologies that are embraced. However, I have noticed my generation being slipped into a few different boxes that have become stereotypes about people my age. For example, people say we are lazy. People say we do not appreciate what we have been given. People say we are easily offended and that they want to go back to the way things used to be. Personally, I have never understood the idea that older generations yearn to shape us into the people that they used to be, or the idea that our generation is somehow less than the generation that came before.

I am proud of my generation. We have grown up during times of radical change and violence, and we have also experienced periods of peace. We understand the terror of hate and we have witnessed the power of love. We are not easily offended, we are creating labels for how we feel and who we love and what we are because we are acknowledging the humanity and dignity of each other. We are offended by “jokes” about race or derogatory words about our sexualities because we know that we are more than a punch line. We are people. We are human. We are embracing who we are now. Things can never go back to the way they were in the past. The past is over. The only thing we can do is work in the present to make our future better. The argument that we do not appreciate what we have been given is also strange. Millennials have grown up both with and without the internet. We grew up as the technology evolved and changed. Because of this, we understand how precious and powerful it is. Because of our technology, we are able to express ourselves. We can connect with people across the world. We are a generation who, while being acutely aware of the differences between people, is also aware of things that make us all the same: our common humanity. Our struggles.

My generation has grown up understanding the power of words, because we have grown with social media. We understand the power of 140 characters, of the words we post on twitter and facebook. We understand that our words matter, and that they can have a profound impact on the world.

We are not a generation lost on our cell phones. We are a generation who, because of those cell phones, can connect with people across the world. We can have nearly limitless information at our fingertips. We can share our experiences with family and friends who might be far away. We are a generation of people who capture pictures of our lives and share them with our friends, and the world. We connect with each other through the images and the stories we post online. We share our moments of joy and of sadness. We raise important discussions through hashtags and trending articles on twitter and other social media platforms. We are a generation who wants to be heard.

The very definition of my generation is complex. I will not accept the generalization that members of my generation are somehow less than the previous generation. We will make mistakes and we will learn from them. We will work towards a better future. We will learn from the mistakes and successes of the past. We will make our own mistakes. We will continue to be a group of incredibly complex, people with diverse opinions who defy categorization.

We are the millennial generation. We are going to change the world.