We're the future.

One day the world will be in our hands, but we'll never be able to handle that responsibility if we're not trusted and given responsibilities now. People are reluctant to do this because they think that all teenagers are irresponsible, but the majority of them aren't. It's not fair to label an entire generation as irresponsible just because of the few that are immature. Most teenagers want to, and more importantly, are ready to be taken seriously and given responsibilities. If this doesn't happen, we'll never be prepared for adulthood.

We're humans, and we deserve the same respect as everyone else.

I shouldn't even have to say this one, and the fact that I have to is sad. Just because teenagers are younger, it doesn't give people the right to treat us like we're lesser people. We deserve to be taken seriously just as much as everyone else.

No, not everything we say is an exaggeration.

Most people don't take teenagers seriously because they think that all we do is exaggerate, which couldn't be more wrong. I'll admit, we do exaggerate... a lot, but in serious situations, we tell everything exactly how it is. If teenagers do exaggerate in these situations, it's because we know adults wouldn't take our problems seriously if we didn't stretch the truth a little, causing an endless cycle of exaggeration that would have never started in the first place if adults would just take our problems seriously.

We know real emotion.

Contrary to what society believes, teenagers know real love and happiness. We live in a world where adults turn their noses up when they hear teenagers tell each other "I love you." They say, "They're not really in love. They just think they're in love," and blame everything on teenage hormones. This shouldn't happen. Sure, we don't have as much life experience as adults, but that doesn't make our love any less real than theirs. We've grown up feeling love; we've loved our parents, our siblings, our friends, and the list goes on. Now, the love we have is just slightly different. To me, love is being willing to do anything for a person, and knowing that they would do the same for you. It's never getting sick of somebody, no matter how much time you spend with them. It's putting someone else's needs before your own, and wanting what's best for them, even if it's not what's best for yourself. It's looking past someone's flaws and seeing only their beauty. Love is finding your safe, happy place in a person's presence. This might not be love to the rest of the world, but this is love as we know it, and nobody, not teens or adults, deserves the grief teenagers receive for it.

Our problems are just as important as adults'.

Teenagers' lives aren't as perfect as they're made out to be in movies; we have countless problems in our everyday lives. Most of these problems are minor, but some are major, and if we come to adults with these problems, the majority of the time we're told to get over it. Not always in those exact words, but some variation of them. We know that adults don't take our problems seriously, so we stop bothering them. We keep things bottled up and disconnect ourselves from society, burying ourselves in our technology. Our generation is one of the worst as far as mental illnesses go, and it's because we know if we tell adults about our problems they'll react like this. They see our critical issues as minor inconveniences, so that's how they'll treat them. It's okay if adults don't see our problems as important, but they shouldn't ignore them because of it. Just because our problems aren't crucial to them doesn't mean they aren't crucial to us, and the world needs to understand that.

We're capable of more than people think we are.

As kids we're told to dream big because we can do anything we put our minds to, but it seems as if the second we become a teenager we're told to stop dreaming and "be realistic." How can we grow up being told our dreams are reachable, but the second we can start achieving them, we're told they're not? It makes absolutely no sense. Teenage years are the time to work hard to make your dreams a reality because we're old enough to make a difference but still young enough that we have nothing to lose, and that opportunity shouldn't be taken away from us because people don't believe it's "realistic." Teenagers can do anything we put our minds to. If you don't believe me, look at 1 Timothy 4:12.

"Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity."

If that doesn't convince you, think about the countless teenage actors and actresses who had a dream and worked hard to make that dream a reality, like Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp, Bailee Madison, Cameron Boyce, Joey King, Gaten Matarazzo, Rowan Blanchard, Caleb McClaughlin, Willow Shieds, and so many more. Or the teenagers who dreamed of being successful in the music industry and put forth their all to achieve it, like Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Bea Miller, Shawn Mendes, Grace VanderWaal, and Noah Cyrus. Still not convinced? Let take a look at some famous teens throughout history. Joan of Arc was only 13-years-old when she led the French army in a major victory against the English at Orleans during the Hundred Years' War, without any previous military experience might I add, making it possible for Charles VII to regain the kingdom in 1429. Louis Braille developed braille, the language for the blind, in 1824 when he was just 15-years-old. Oh and did I mention he was blind himself? Mary Shelley wrote "Frankenstein," a classic piece of literature, when she was only 18-years-old. Long story short, teenagers are capable of anything, and they shouldn't be treated like they aren't.