I'm proud of what my generation is capable of.

I can already see older generations rolling their eyes and muttering about how spoiled and babied my generation is, but please keep reading. Listen to what I have to say, and, try to see my point of view. After that, you are obviously free to continue thinking whatever you want about us, but at least you'll see a millennial's perspective.

We work hard.

Yes, our generation was given participation trophies and told that winning doesn't matter as long as we had fun. We didn't ask for that though, you gave it to us. Participation trophies meant nothing. We could see that everyone got the same trophy and that there was absolutely nothing special about it. We kept track of the score. Even when my little brother first started playing soccer, when the referees didn't keep score, the kids did. Even though he wasn't very good at keeping track, he would come up to our family afterward and ask, "Did we win?"

As we're growing up, we know that hard work matters. Doing your best in school is the only way to graduate. Doing your best at a job is the only way to make money - or not get fired, at the very least.

We don't need "safe spaces".

We want the whole world to be a safe space. People of all genders, ethnicities, social classes, sexual orientations, religions, etc. deserve to live in a world where they don't have to fear for their safety every time they walk out their front door. The reason we care more than older generations did is because we're more aware of the constant discrimination that so many people face on a regular basis. How wanting people to feel safe in their environment possibly be construed as a bad thing?

We will continue fighting for equal rights of all people.

Women deserve the same pay as men. Muslims deserve the right to practice their religious holidays just as Christians do. We know that people in other countries "have it worse," but why is that a reason to stop fighting for equality in our own country? Say you broke your arm and someone said, "Oh, Jimmy over there broke his arm in two places, so you should stop complaining because he obviously has it worse." Would you accept that? No! And you shouldn't have to. The pain from your hypothetical broken arm is just as valid as Jimmy's. So why would you tell millennial women in our country that the fight for equal rights doesn't matter as much as a women's rights in India, for example. And that goes for every other minority that fights for equal rights in our country.