Millennials are lazy.

Millennials are weak.

Millennials are entitled.

Millennials don’t understand hard work.

All in all, it sounds like we suck quite a bit, huh? I am positive that anyone reading this has experienced these same statements. In a world where we constantly hear and see reminders of how much our parents generation hates ours I must ask, how can we ever hope to love ourselves?

Generationism is the belief that one generation has inherent traits that are superior or inferior to another generation. Don’t get me wrong, it is completely normal for each generation to believe that they are superior to both the generations before and after their own generation.

Our generation is the first generation with widespread access to information via the internet. Our generation can see what everyone in the world is saying about us and the generation before us is able to criticize us in ways that have never before been possible for a parent generation. Don’t get me wrong, I know we are not perfect, but we do some damn cool things that make me incredibly proud to be a millennial.

For starters, we make our childhood dreams come true.

Let me explain.

When I was a small boy I dreamed of many things. I dreamed that I would be able to fly, I dreamed that I would be president, an astronaut, I wanted to be a Quidditch player and I wanted to be a Pokemon trainer, I wanted... Wait a second, let’s back up. Quidditch player and a Pokemon trainer, well I’ve been playing Quidditch for five years now and I’ve been non-stop playing Pokemon Go for the past week. I did it, didn’t I? Well I am not the only one, millennials everywhere have lived out that dream, all thanks to our determination to back the things that we believed in even as little kids. College kids at Middlebury College here in Vermont started the worldwide craze that is Muggle Quidditch and millennials helped to bring Pokemon Go to the top of the app store in the first twenty four hours after release in the United States. If that’s not determination to live out childhood dreams then I don’t know what is.

I love how much compassion this generation seems to have for others. From feminism to racial equality to the LGBT community, Millennials tend to sit on the front lines fighting for equality for all people. “Black Lives Matter,” “Love Wins,” and so on. The Bernie Sanders campaign really showed how badly millennials wanted a loving world rather than a hateful one. Thousands of millennials showed up to every one of his rallies, they echoed his message of peace and shot down Donald Trump’s message of hate.

I know that these things do not represent all millennials, and I know that millennials aren’t the only ones involved in them, but they are all things that are incredibly prevalent in our generation. Pokemon Go, Bernie Sanders support, alliance with the LGBT community, are all widespread amongst millennials. We are leading the masses in a lot of these areas and that is something that fills me with unbelievable pride. No, millennials are not perfect, but we are damn well trying, and that is all that matters.