Our generation has gotten a lot of heat in the last few years. The world views us as self-entitled, self-absorbed and always looking for a handout. They say we are too easily offended and that we cannot take care of ourselves. The world thinks we are ignorant, arrogant and lazy. I believe that this is not true; that, in fact, we are not any of this at all. I believe that we are getting a bad rap because of the generation that came before us, and the fact that we are coming in and trying to change the world we live in. It is a fact that people do not take very well to change. This makes us the bad guys.

Our generation is looking to make the world a better place. America was founded on the idea of independence. People left Britain and immigrated -- yes, I repeat, IMMIGRATED to America. We completely came in and destroyed the society that was already in place and began our own. We coined a term to name the people that were ALREADY here. We had the gall to just say that we now owned the land that was already owned. How dare we? This is a sense of entitlement.

Now of course, this was many years ago and how does this at all correlate to our current generational gap? The answer is simple: we all are taught history in school. American History is very subjective, we are glorified as a great nation because of actions that are not glorifiable. So before you start to judge us, read between the printed lines. You’ll see that this country is not what you think it is, and that we are not the people you view us as.

This country is not something that is amazing. We have gone through slavery, segregation, racism, bigotry, war and political corruption, a lot of which is still in the world today. The concepts of racism, bigotry and political corruption are insane to still be in this country. This begins my talk about the generations -- the generations that came before us, particularly the two previous (our parents and grandparents) has seen all of this in action, and still believe that our generation is ignorant and arrogant. That is insane. How can you say that when your generation condoned segregation and racism as a social norm? Our generation is still fighting that battle that was started during the past generation’s times. We get called easily offended and “a bunch of wusses” when we believe that everyone has the right to be themselves, and comfortable in their own skins.

How is that okay? The Declaration of Independence states that, “All men are created equal.” All men, all humans deserve equality. This is stated heavily in ink, displayed to all Americans, yet the concept seems hard to understand. Our generation has come into a different time and we’ve decided to fight for our ideals. We are fighting for our education, wages, equality, love and safety. Doesn’t that sound familiar? It should, because that’s what the past generations have done as well, but sadly we are the ones who are in the wrong. The modern world allows us more of a chance to create a world that is able to be inhabited by all people regardless of their situations or orientations. We fight for race, and for people. We are ignorant because we are attempting to change a world that we “don’t understand."

To make a living wage we have to first spend thousands of dollars that we will spend our lives paying back, something the past generations did not have to do. The cost of living and the cost of an education have rose substantially throughout the years, and if our generation asks for assistance, we are looking for a handout or being entitled. You know what? I believe that we are entitled to an education that is not going to send us into debt until we die. In the last year alone, tuition has gone from approximately $30,000 to a skyrocketing $40,000. Those numbers only account for one year of education. In 1973, one year of college cost around $10,000, and could be easily paid off without too much stress. It is almost impossible to do that now, but yes, we are the entitled ones.

Now, let's take a look at something else. Homosexual equality is still an issue. People are going to be gay whether something changes or not. No amount of hate, science, or religion is going to change that. If someone likes a guy, or likes a girl, you cannot just take the gay out of them and replace it with straight. It does not work that way. Why is this an issue, and why are we arrogant for wanting equal rights? This does not make any sense. if we are so free, then tell me why freedom has such strict moral codes? Until that can be answered, then we'll keep fighting.

Movements like #BlackLivesMatter are not trying to say that all lives don't matter -- it is pointing out an area where the most attention is needed. Of course all lives matter, but all lives are not affected the same way, so let us take a look at a piece of puzzle and eventually we will solve it.

We are easily offended because we are tired of watching the world implode on itself. We are not asking for much -- just for a world where we can live and actually be free to be who we want to be. So yeah, we are arrogant, because we see promise and potential. We see a world that does not know what it is doing and we're trying to solve the puzzle. Think twice before you make a comment. Look at the scale on both ends, we're trying to help. Look past our modern attitude and see the real issues. Fighting the people who are fighting these issues is not going to solve anything.

Our generations are surely different. That makes us individuals, and that is amazing to see. I am not saying that we are perfect, because we are not in any way. All I am saying is that we are not better than you, and you are not better than us. We are all equal, all of us. We need to start acting like it.