"You aren’t special. Don’t even think for a second that you matter any more to this world than the poor chum sitting next to you. We all fill the graves, it doesn’t matter what “good deeds” you have done for the world. Yes, we expect you to achieve nothing less than perfection in whatever you do, but don’t you forget that you will always be average. You are average just like the rest of your generation who seems to believe each and every one of them are special snowflakes who deserve so much more than they are given. You are entitled when you have no reason to be. You. Aren’t. Special."

Or at least, that’s what they tell us.

As a valid, participating member of this so-called “Generation Y,” or as some people call us, “The Millennials,” I have a front seat to all of the criticism that has been wrongfully thrown in our direction. I’ve listened to people from generations ranging from The Baby Boomers to the previous Generation X tell me how my generation is nothing but a bunch of lazy, self-entitled, narcissistic, brain-dead blobs of grey goo. I’ve seen adults roll their eyes the second they hear the chime of my cellphone or I pull it out of my pocket to see who had texted me more times than I can count despite the fact that it was their generation that created the object I’m holding in my hand in the first place and it was their generation that initially brought these magic devices into our lives and installed us in a virtual world that quite honestly isn’t even as detrimental as they say it is. I’ve been told that even though I have done more research and have collectively more knowledge than a good percentage of people, my opinions regarding politics and current events are irrelevant. Why? Oh, because I belong to a generation of individuals that are too obsessed with their own relevance and their own image to know anything notable about political events. Of course, because I am just another addition to a worldwide epidemic known as my generation.

And am I upset? You better believe I’m upset.

I’m upset because people my age are consistently put in the direct line of fire for issues that we have absolutely no control over; while the generation before us is the cause, we are blamed for being the effect. Maybe I’ll get criticized yet again for being just another “millennial trying to shift blame when it obviously belongs to me,” but this generation has been handed the brutal task of cleaning up a lot of garbage that generations before us have passed down in an attempt to avoid responsibility. Essentially speaking, we have become the scapegoat for crimes we don’t have any recollection of committing. We are the ones picking up the pieces of a fragmented reality. We are the ones coming together to try and make a change because We see this society for what it really is: flawed and corrupted. It isn’t our fault that the world is the way it is and it would be unfair of me to say that it is any one generation’s wrongdoing, but we didn’t come into this world with the intention of screwing it up for everyone else.

How does a generation so young create so much turmoil? It isn’t our fault that a good majority of us are terrified to grow up because we aren’t sure that we are going to “make it” out in the “real world.” You cannot blame this generation for recognizing what is wrong and wanting change. Despite what a lot of older generations may assume, we aren’t blind to absolutely everything happening around us. Just because somebody is older doesn’t mean that they are automatically granted a better understanding of the world. Ever since there has been a generation of young people, there has been a generation of old people telling them how to live and what they are doing wrong, completely disregarding the fact that we are the future of the human race. We have the right to speak up about things concerning us and we have the right to notice when unjust situations are occurring and to act accordingly. We have the right to know what’s going on.

We are taught our whole lives that you can’t change anything because those who hold power are afraid of us organizing. If we were truly educated, we would take power over our own lives. But for all you know, my generation could be the future revolutionaries who’ll rise up against the infinite violence and injustice we are faced with at every turn. We could fight for our dreams once again; for autonomy, for self-organization, for economic and social equality and freedom. And yet, we are still scoffed at, mocked, and ridiculed for doing something as minuscule as taking a picture of ourselves because God forbid we like the way we look enough to document it! All we are is a bunch of selfish, egotistical kids. My generation is doomed, they say. Doomed.

But let me tell you something.

Every year, university tuition will be 2.3 percent more expensive for my generation. My generation reports the highest levels of anxiety and depression than any other generation to date. 15 percent more of us will go to a college, but 46 percent of my generation won’t find a job until over 2 years after school. My generation, on average, is $47,628 in debt. 58 percent of girls in my generation feels like they are the wrong weight, 95 percent of people with eating disorders are part of my generation, and my generation has a billion dollar industry telling us that we are not good enough, that we are ugly, lazy, entitled, and anything we do to be financially successful, or less stressed, or BEAUTIFUL is in vain.

So go ahead. Keep scoffing. Keep telling us who we are and what we can and cannot do to better this world, but know this…

In 2015, Millennials made up one-third of the electorate. Know that young voter turnout went up 103 percent between 2004 and 2008. Know that 50 percent of eligible young voters turned out for the 2012 election. We may not be the loudest voice in the world, but that does not mean we cannot think and act for ourselves. We are here. We are here. We are here. And we are going to keep fighting like hell to make tomorrow better than today.