I hear it said time and time again. “Your generation is lazy and expects too much.” “Our country has no future if this generation is charge.” Etc. etc. And that’s where I call bullsh*t.

Yes, some generations grew up in times of war, disease and immense poverty, but we are dealing with similar situations ourselves. One of the most outlined memories in our lives will be when the Twin Towers fell. We will always worry about sexually transmitted diseases and the sometimes long-term effects. The memories of fake Facebook accounts and hacked Twitter pages will leave us questioning strangers. The charities we help will always be gracious to us as we fight to stop hunger, or AIDS, or third-world poverty. The list goes on and on, a list that was in fact written for us by other generations.

The reality is that this generation is one to remember.

We fight for recognition in a world that is overpopulated so much that droughts are happening as the prices of healthier foods escalate. We fight for acceptance into school program after school program all so that we can move to a big city to pay too much rent for too little space. These acceptances should add up to a career but first you have to add internships and community service to that mix on top of having a social life.

That social life consists of social media where we maintain networks and communicate with individuals all over the world. It also involves a revolving panel of dates that text you back 16 hours late, and some do not show up at all. It involves maintaining appearances to make yourself relevant in a world of never-ending conversations where you tell people your school, your major, and your career choice. Luckily, we have gotten good at autopilot.

This is just the cake, though. Most of us have to pay for rent, textbooks, groceries, gym memberships, insurance, tuition, student loans, car maintenance and the gas they obtain, activities in our social lives, clothing and, after a list that long, alcohol. How do we get the money for it all? Sometimes from our parents if we are lucky.

However, a majority of us have jobs on top of school and everything else. We have one, two, three part-time jobs. We have an internship, and a part-time job. We have a full-time job. The combinations are endless. These jobs are usually not glamorous either. We are your servers at your lunch dates. We are the cashiers at your department stores. We are the assistant coaches of your grandchild’s lacrosse team. We are the lifeguards at your community pool. We are Santa’s elves during the holiday season even. We do it all.

I am not saying our generation is the best thing since running water or breakfast all day at McDonald's. I am saying that we work hard to play hard. We balance more things in our day-to-day lives than any other generation. We make it look easy sometimes too. Not all of us are superstars but I do believe there should be credit where credit is due.