If you were born after 1980, congratulations, you are a Millennial! I say congratulations because unlike the rest of the world, I know how wonderful it is to be a Millennial. As a Millennial myself, I cannot imagine another age and time I would want to grow up in. Below are some of the lies that our generation has been told about ourselves, as told by Mean Girls.
1. We are uneducated or just plain stupid.
According to The Council of Executive Directors, The Millennial Generation has the highest rates of college attendance at 61 percent. Also, millennials are more likely to attend graduate school than previous generations. We would like you to know that we believe in an education and are actively pursuing them. No, not all of our generation sees its importance, but neither did yours. Our numbers are rising and we are becoming more intelligent.
2. We do not understand and cannot use real words.
Parents, believe it or not, we do not say LOL at a funny joke. We still laugh. We do not say ILY, but instead, "I love you." In fact, my dad has probably sent “K” more times than I could ever dream of sending "LOL" or "OMG." Some of us even value the American language and the term, "Grammar Nazi" is still fully embraced by our generation
3. We are self-centered.
This one is perhaps the most aggravating of all assumptions. If you pay attention to any of us even for one second, we are more interconnected than any generation before us. Millennials grow up with both the pros and cons of the world being at our fingertips. Don’t forget all the good and giving back we have started with the access of social media. There is a new app on the market called Brighten, which is a place where you can give someone an anonymous comment in hopes of bettering their day. The recipient doesn't know who the sender is so tell me again how uncredited kindness is considered self-centered?
4. All we do is whine and complain.
However, the truth is quite the opposite. Millennial are the generation of optimism. We are the generation that believes in sharing quotes and articles that make life seem a little brighter. We do not sit around the dinner table and talk about how the world is ending, but rather we sit and laugh and tell stories because that is what we find important. We want to capture every moment so that we may never forget the joy we felt. We do not like complaining and quitting either. We could whine about it, but we don’t whine about life. Instead, we get an education and fight in hopes that we could change the world.
Next time you see a Millennial, we hope you know that we forgive you for all the conclusions you have jumped to. You just aren’t a Millennial and don’t get it. Your generation was the wild and selfish ones at one point. So for now, we just accept the joy of being a misunderstood and lost generation. We will find our own way in life. We have always made our own path.
