I’m sure by now everyone has seen the viral video of the seemingly sweet blonde, Alexis Bloomer, completely bashing millennials. I would attribute the success of this video to fact that she is a millennial herself. People (older generations) love seeing a person bash her very own generation for all of their shortcomings. I am a millennial, and I for one am sick and tired of people bashing millennials as if we raised ourselves to be this way.

According to Alexis Bloomer, and many older generations, we are selfish. We don’t know the meaning of hard work. We are completely disrespectful to our elders, and we do not appreciate anything. We are only concerned with ourselves and believe that everything should be handed to us with little to no effort from us. We take selfies, and texting “has completely ruined” communication. This woman paints her own generation as the complete scum of the Earth, and ultimately, although she thinks she has done the world a favor with this apology, she has actually shown her arrogance and weakness when it comes to defending a generation that she is a part of — like it or not.

Well, I’ve got news for her and everyone else who shared this video (and make sure to read this all the way through). We do suck most times — and when I say “we," I say it inclusively. Although I do not believe myself to be one of these “types” of millennials, whether I like it or not, I am a part of this generation. We do lack respect for any individuals who attempt to force authority on us. We are completely unappreciative of anything that anyone does for us, and we expect everything to be handed to us without us ever having to lift a finger. Millennials only care about themselves, and we do not think anyone else knows anything about anything more than we do. We view everyone else as the problem, and that’s ultimately our problem.

But let's get real here — and I do not mean this offensively to my own parents because as I said before, I do not place myself in this majority millennial group. A large portion of the people who bash us are older generations — generations that oftentimes had a hand in raising us. Has anyone who bashes us ever stopped to ask themselves, “Why are they that way? Why do they not know the value of a dollar? Why are they so disrespectful?” Obviously, they haven’t, and if it has ever crossed their minds, they push it away because of what the answer to this question is. It’s not our fault.

Let me break it down for you. Say you get a new puppy. This puppy is totally adorable in every way possible. You hate for it to pee in your house, but it’s just such a cute little dog that you can’t possibly get mad. Plus, really you’re just too busy to take it out. So the dog gets older, and as it ages, it continues to pee in your house. You complain every chance you get about the dog and its bathroom habits — in fact, you're ready to give the dog away at this point. You gripe about how it should know better and about how stupid it is. Well — we are the dogs peeing in your house right now. We are all a “product of our raisin’,” as they say. It is you, the people who raised us, who made us the way we are today.

You are the ones that taught us that it’s OK to be this way. You are the people who thought we were so cute (just like the dog), so you couldn't punish us when we messed up. You gave us trophies for doing absolutely nothing but “existing” or “participating." You are the ones who taught us that we deserve the world because we are the greatest things since sliced bread. You showed us that despite our mess-ups, we are “supposed” to get everything we want. We have this false sense of entitlement because of you. We are selfish because of you. And, most importantly, we are completely disrespectful because of you. You gave up on our manners — maybe because you didn’t “have time," or maybe because it was “too hard” to teach us. We have believed all along that it’s perfectly OK to sit on our rear ends because the world owes us something. And now — now after all these years of listening and learning from you — now you feel as though you have the right to tear us down and bash us publicly and privately for what we have become.

I am extremely respectful, and I know that I have to work hard for what I want. Luckily, I, like a few others in this generation, had parents who gave a dang about where I would end up in life. The few of us who do things right get absolutely no credit because we didn’t get to choose our birth year. But, honestly, I don’t mind being a part of this generation, because it just gives me the chance to prove all of these people who are bashing us wrong.

I am a millennial, and I do take selfies and text my friends, but that’s not a “millennial” problem, that’s called technological advancements — just like how you bought a T.V. or a computer when they first came out. We aren’t nearly as bad as everyone makes us seem. We are innovative, and most of the time, our new ways of doing things make life easier and more enjoyable for even the ones who hate us. Facebook? A millennial created that. iPhones? Millennials. We love to buy anything that results in a donation to a charity, and we are all about giving back to those less fortunate.

We have been through the recession, but most of us still found jobs. According to a survey by Bentley University, 67 percent of millennials want to start their own business, but we're lazy remember? Also, according to the same study, 66 percent of us think that employers should limit social media usage, but social media is all we care about, isn't it? We are a generation that's all about helping others and standing up for what we believe in — but we're terrible, right? Furthermore, we are one of the most diverse generations that encourage people to be different and stand out. If people keep stereotyping us into this lazy category, some of us are going to start believing that we will never be able to amount to anything.

Millennials are not all bad. We aren’t all the same. I, along with many others, are proof of that. But, quite frankly, if you have a problem with any of us, take a good hard long look in the mirror before you point your finger and tell us how terrible and entitled we are, because you are the one that created us. You are the reason why millennials have such a bad reputation — and it’s time to start giving you credit for what you’ve created.