Our generation has been through many struggles. From stereotypes about being shallow, lazy, or inconsiderate to people telling us we don't "respect our elders" and we live too crazy. We have the world at our fingertips, yet we are told that our brains exist in our cell phones and we're too liberal to even account for.
We've risen up from self-hate and romanticizing mental illness to educating others and being proactive, lifting each other up instead of enabling others to stay in a place of depression and hurt. It is us that will change the world - we've already started doing so. Our generation is not shallow, or "too liberal." We are accepting and loving.
Instead of running away, we seek to understand the things we cannot comprehend. We are incredibly smart -- we are told that we are the most educated generation in the world. It is time that we start utilizing that stereotype and open our eyes to the world of possibilities around us. The fate of the world belongs to millennials and Generation Z, and it's time we show up to the voting booths and take hold of our future.
With the 2016 elections coming up, campaigns are everywhere. It is hard to not see all of the propaganda that surrounds the United States as each candidate attempts to sway you one way or another. In a world where the Internet exists, it is also hard not to see all the memes that the younger generation is coming up with.
Our generation has its views. We have a voice, and we are using it creatively through comics and memes.
Although these are funny and entertaining, if that is all the young generation is going to do with our elections, it is not enough. We say we want change and we want it now. We have movements and rallies throughout the entire United States. We tweet, we text, we Facebook, we blog and we have filters, but that cannot suffice. We express ourselves all the time, why not add the voting booth to our resume?
According to the Pew Research Center, Baby Boomers make up 69.7-percent of the United States population able to vote, while Millennials make up 69.2-percent -- roughly equal. Yet, millennials have been falling short at the voting booths. We have seen the devastation and disturbance this can cause through Britain's most recent decision to leave the EU -- famously coined "Brexit."
According to The Independent, 64-percent of young voters did not bother to get down to the voting booths and participate in this life-changing event. This is the lazy and apathetic stereotype that our generation is plagued with. Young voters have to live with the decision the longest, and probably fix it when it goes awry, and yet our say was so minute that it hardly had an effect. If there is anything to learn from this scenario, it is that we need to speak up for ourselves. Don't let your opinion be so minuscule that you feel you are whispering into the oblivion. Get up, go vote, and make a difference in the world you live in.
