Sometimes I get curious about some things, and the other day, I decided I was curious about what age range the Millennial generation is. (Spoiler alert: it’s everyone born between around 1982 and 2004. So everyone that’s currently, in 2016, between 34 or 35 and 11 or 12. I hope I did that math right.)

However, in my quest to find the answer, I stumbled across an Atlantic piece, that was innocuously titled “Here Is When Each Generation Begins and Ends, According to Facts.” Perfect. And, in truth, it is where I took the above information from. However, in the subheader, there was something that struck me, which is the phrase “We all can agree that Millennials are the worst.” I’d actually like to ask a couple of questions in response to that statement, even if it's a couple of years late:

First of all, who is “we?” Are “we” including Millennials in that collective “we,” or are “we” just referring to everyone that’s Gen X and older? In which case, “we” is still acceptable, but when you add “all” to make it “we all,” then you’re overgeneralizing and over assuming. And, sure, it was probably meant to be rhetorical in the same sense that “we all” think Hitler was a pretty bad guy, but I’d still like to know.

Secondly, nowhere in the piece did the author actually back up his claims and say WHY Millennials are seemingly the worst generation, and I’d personally like to know his reasoning. Sure we’ve heard rhetoric left and right about how we’re literally the worst generation, and sure it’s probably a simple Google search away, but I’m always interested in knowing other people’s reasoning behind their opinions. The author, in fact, goes so far as to say that it’s “funny” that a pair of researchers in 2004 said that Millennials could be the “next great generation.” Why, sir, is it funny, may I ask? It’s poor form to state an argument and not back up your claim, and even I, a lowly Millennial, know this due to my (still ongoing) college education.

Furthermore, as more of a statement to the author, rather than a question, yes, as a Millennial, I do “need naps” because I, personally, have a low energy level. I’m still in favor of adopting the idea of a siesta hour, just like some countries have had for many years, and because it seems that naps are better at getting people over the afternoon hump, even over caffeine. And I don’t need to remind anyone that a publication from Harvard citing both Harvard and non-Harvard researchers is probably pretty reputable.

There’s a very real possibility that the offending Atlantic article in which I’m referring to was meant to have a sarcastic sort of bent to it, and I’m just not understanding the joke. This is understandable, and, if that is the case, I apologize for my scathing words. I tend to think it’s immature for anyone to say that any generation is the worst simply because that generation isn’t their own, and it annoys me. Even so, I know that there are people out there who do hold the opinion that Millennials are the worst generation to ever hit the face of the earth. However, I’d like to offer up some food for thought.

We are all entitled to our opinions. It’s the beautiful thing about free speech. But, here’s the deal. Last time I checked, Millennials weren’t the ones who started the giant carbon dioxide-coated ball of global warming – in fact, it started becoming noticeable in the 1930s, but finally became backed up with scientific claims by about 1960. We also weren’t the ones who decided throwing the country into a $2 trillion war was a good idea. We didn’t come up with impossible standards for men and women, nor did we ask for toxic gender roles. We also didn’t ask to inherit such a depressing economy with disgusting levels of student loan debt with a horrible job market in a world where a college degree is nice, but it’s better to have an advanced degree, and “screw you if you didn’t even go to college, good luck making a living wage.”

So, what? What’s left? Millennials are selfish? We probably are – but only because mass media is telling us we can be through ads and the invention of social media. Are Millennials obnoxious? Sure, we’re probably guilty as charged. But, weren’t the suffragettes obnoxious too? The Founding Fathers of America as well? Gandhi? Nelson Mandela? Martin Luther King, Jr.? Weren’t they and the movements they led all obnoxious to some people in their time too? Of course they were. But what’s interesting is that if you’re the right kind of obnoxious, then sometimes, stuff gets done and changes for the better. And I think “we all” can agree on that.