I've dreaded writing about this for a while now, mostly because this controversy is particularly frustrating to me. We've all heard the comments about millennial laziness, entitlement, and of course, rampant use of technology. And what is almost more upsetting than these stereotypical (and, from where I sit, generally incorrect) assumptions is the lack of understanding that we live in a world where in many ways we were set up to fail.

Let's start with the basics: No, we aren't lazy and no, we aren't entitled. The vast majority of us are desperate to succeed (if only just to disprove social prejudices against us) and are balancing school work, jobs, social lives and trying to figure out what we want to do with our lives.

I don't think it is a coincidence that this generation is born about 100 years after the people who lived in the Roaring 20's and who I would consider some of the most disillusioned in America. You only have to read some of F. Scott Fitzgerald's or Hemingway's novels to see that they were feeling lost, and I think in some ways, that is mirrored today. We are the last generation to have been born before the technology boom, so in some ways, we are on the border of life before and without the iPhone. And that, I think, does have an effect on us: We in some ways long for simpler times but are also blamed for the complicated present we are now a part of.

The transition of power between generations is always a messy one, but in this situation, it seems even more so. And why? Could it be because the Baby Boomer generation and their grandkids clash more than their children did because we are more outspoken? Regardless, we are struggling to find our place in this world being too young to have directly experienced a lot of the things that shaped our country, but old enough to know what we want and don't want to repeat itself.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Technology can be a wonderful outlet to express yourself and get your opinion across. It can also be very detrimental, and I think we definitely have struggled to find that balance as a generation. But I also understand why that is. We in our society favor the ideas of restraint, reason and rationality and often are judged as "snowflake millennials" when we do show how we feel. So if we can't rely on our social circles to validate our feelings, why wouldn't we hop on social media platforms where we know we have more of a chance of being supported by our peers, no matter how ridiculous our thoughts may seem? And, at a time when a lot of us are floundering, scared or just uncertain, why wouldn't we use our Instagrams to post ~aesthetic~ pictures of what we would like to project our life as being?

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that in some ways, it makes sense that this is our coping mechanism.

So to those reading this who would like to judge us off the bat, I hope this will change your mind. We are trying. And we are exploring uncharted territory in terms of the skyrocketing amounts of cumulative knowledge we have access to. I'm sure we can all agree that in today's society, we are continually at a crossroads and forever having to redetermine and refine our definitions of what is right, what is fair, what is good and what is humane. And that's no easy feat for any of us.

Our generation may not have the answers yet, but we are growing into the shoes we have to fill, little by little. And, while you may not agree with everything we believe, you all have taught us since birth to fight for what we believe in, and that is exactly what we are starting to do.