Being a millennial isn’t easy. We are constantly barraged with opinions of our generation from those older than us. We’ve been labeled as “lazy” and “entitled”. Most of us, have grown used to those over 40 having this view of us, but I found is particularly un-nerving to see a member of our own generation speaking so ill of us as a whole with points that are A) blown way out of proportion and B) grossly generalized and sometimes just flat out untrue. The link to this video is located at the bottom of this article, but let me break this down point by point.

1) "Millennials are not contributing to society."

This is probably the mos generalized point attempted to be made here. Millennials, by definition, are individuals born between the year 1982 and 2004. Now of course there are individuals born between those years that are absolutely doing nothing to benefit society. They still live at home, are making no moves to find employment and plan to have there mom's cook 3 meals a day for them forever. But for most of us, that isn't our lives. We're going to college, or trade school, or are living at home with jobs, or plans to further our education in the future. We have people like Marquis Cabrera, who at 25 years old used his experiences growing up in the foster system, founded "Foster Skills",a booming non profit organization that is a support channel for children in the foster care system all across the country ; or Tammy Tibbetts, who at 23 founded non-profit organization "She's the First", working to spur girls education in in low income countries. You can't build your arguments first point and foundation on a few bad eggs in the basket, broadened to represent our generation as a whole.

2) "Millennials have no manners: Were never taught to say "Yes ma'am/No ma'am" "Yes sir/No sir" or hold doors open."

Okay. Ridiculous point number two. I will start out by saying that I have never been on a date in which the boy I was out with didn't hold open a door for me. In addition, I don't have many male friends who don't make an effort to hold doors open for people leaving stores with their hands full, or a mother with several children struggling behind. I was also raised to respond to adults with "Yes ma'am/No ma'am" "Yes sir/No sir", as I know were most of my friends. Here is yet another generalization chosen as a point because people in older generations will latch on to the idea that millennials have no manners and run with it like the wind, even if the point is mostly untrue.

3) "We listen to obscene music glorifying drugs and crime."

On my phone right now in my music library I have everything from Childish Gambino, to the Original Broadway Cast recording of Hamilton. Do I occasionally listen to music with less than G-rated content? Absolutely. Does that make me sit around my room thinking that becoming addicted to cocaine and shooting someone for sleeping with my boyfriend is okay? Of course not. Music is a form of expression. What we choose to listen to almost never influences our behavior. Furthermore I have never met anyone who exclusively listens to one type of music. Usually people enjoy a variety. Just because I sometimes opt for Doritos over fruit or candy over a balanced meal, does not mean I'm going to get fat.

4)"Millennials cuss to prove a point."

Yes. Sometimes people in our generation cuss. Sometimes our parents cuss. Heck, even sometimes our grandparents cuss. Pretty much at some point in there lives, everyone stubs there toe on a door or gets a little to heated in an argument and a choice word slips out. Not just millennials.

5)"We use words like "bae" to describe people we love."

Never have I ever met a person who seriously refers to someone they love/are dating/ are interested in in any sort of romantic way as "bae". At this point, most people use the term ironically directed at their friends. This is ridiculous. Let's move on.

6) "We idolize people like Kim Kardashian but shame those like Tim Tebow"

Last time I checked more people have a distaste for Kim Kardashion than are fans of her at this point. Just about a month ago, the internet exploded shaming her for positing mostly nude photos of herself on social media with comments claiming this makes her a bad mother, and that she is setting back the feminist movement. Last time I checked that is the exact opposite of idolization. And comparing our views on her to our views of Tim Tebow? Most people who have a problem with Tim Tebow have a problem with the way he expresses his faith. The same way people constantly have problems with the way many celebrities show there support/lack of support for all kinds of things; from shoes to choice in restaurant. This point is yet another example of a generalized stretch, created to entice an offended reaction of "We hate Christians and we love hot models with nice bodies and tons of money." , which isn't even sort of true.

7)"We want to make money and receive free education, but we don't want to work for it."

I'm not even sure what point this statement is trying to make. I don't think anywhere in the country, is there a 20 something in their right mind sitting on a couch in middle america, with a bowl of cheese puffs and a TV remote in there hand complaining about how they want to be rich and go to school for free. While millennials have political stances and ideas in which they believe higher education reform is necessary in our country and that our financial system needs changing as well, none of us are walking around waving picket signs demanding we are given a six figure salary and a college diploma for free.

8)"We spend more time making friends online, and less time building relationships in the real world."

While some people might find it easier to make friends via the many social media platforms that exist today than with real people in the real world; this is yet another point designed to get people in the older generations to perk up their heads and jump on the soap box of "these yungins spend way to much time on those here cellular phones and on there laptop computers." Therefore, I will not spend my time arguing against such a cliche point.

9) "Our relationship appearance on social media is more important than the foundation our relationships are built on."

I have always been one that while dating someone, enjoys posting photos and statuses about our relationship on social media. But this has nothing to do with trying to compensate for relationship short falls. I have never believed that my posting on social media about the person I am dating, is my any means a replacement for an actual relationship foundation. It's about sharing one of the most important people in my life with my friends and family that I love and might not see everyday, not about replacing communication and strong relationship basis with a photo on Instagram.

10) "We believe standing up for our beliefs is posting our opinions on social media."

There are hundreds of news stories a year revolving around young people standing up for their beliefs. Whether that be rally's, protests, boycotts, (peaceful or otherwise) there is a very large pool of examples to pull from when looking for instances in which millennials took a stand for their opinions and beliefs without sitting behind a keyboard and typing away on Facebook. Now, you do not have to agree with what these individuals are taking a stand for, to acknowledge that there is a stand being made. And yes, I am doing exactly what I just mentioned. I am stating my opinion behind a computer screen. Why? For the same reason most people do it. Because it is the fastest and easiest way to reach the broadest audience. Of course if you would like to discuss this in person over coffee or lunch I would be happy to, but we are a globally connected society. And the internet is the most efficient way in this day and age to get information and opinions out.

11) "We believe our number of followers reflects who we are as people."

I feel like a broken record at this point. Again, I will state that I have never met anyone who honestly sits around defining there life by how many people follow them on social media. Now do I get a little excited when I get more likes than usual on a posted status or photo; sometimes a little more excited than I should? Of course. But that doesn't mean I base my life on it. And any anti-millennial argument based around the idea of social media or technology advances is a moot point. We can't judge the way our generations reacts to these advances against how any other generation did because most technology that exists today did not exist when previous generations were growing up. Our parents and grandparents don't understand the dull extent of the importance social media and being globally connected is to the way our lives run. Now that isn't there fault, they just simply didn't have that experience in their youth. But you can't use that as an argument against us either.

12) "We don't respect our elders or our country."

A) these two statements do not relate to on another so I'm not sure why they are grouped together and B) as to not respecting our country, refer to my response on point 13.

13) "We step on our flag instead of volunteering."

Millennials make up the majority of the military, representing 71% of the active duty armed forces. This point is invalid.

14) "We mock the people fighting for our country."

This is, by far, the most absurd point presented in this video. Who makes mocks or pokes fun of those in the military? We have holidays dedicated to them for crying out loud. Do we forget to acknowledge then as much as we probably should? Absolutely. But never have I met anyone who walks around poking fun of those serving in the armed forces. I'm honestly curious as to where this idea even came from?

15) "The division of our country is causes by millennials."

No. The division of our country is not largely caused by millennials. It is largely caused by the generation before us (sorry mom and dad). How can you blame the division of our country on a generation of individuals who aren't even all legally allowed to vote yet? While the oldest in our generation have been able to vote in the last 8 presidential elections, we still have 8 years of millennials that can't vote yet. Blaming all of our nations problems on the millennials is just a way for older generations to avoid taking responsibility for the mistakes and messes they have made in their lifetimes by throwing blame on those "ungrateful kids".

16) "Celebrate things once frowned upon."

This is another point made to stir up arguments and trouble;and I'm not going to feed into that. I am only going to say 2 things and then we will move on. 1. Just because you don't agree with/support something doesn't make it wrong and 2. We, as a nation, once frowned upon the idea of women voting and working outside the home, and black people and white people using the same bathrooms, and changing those ideas has only helped us a society.

17) "We value nothing and take advantage of everything."

I think I have proven up to this point that this statement is false, and is honestly to broad of a statement so successfully rebuttal.

18) "We have more opportunities to succeed than any other generation, but we don't appreciate them."

This. Isn't. True.

I will wrap up with this with this.

Do millennials have their problems and shortfalls? Absolutely. But every generation has had their fair share. What older generations need to remember is that we are the generation on the rise. We are the next politicians, and entrepreneurs, ad business owners, and care givers. We are the ones responsible for fixing whatever mistakes you have left behind. We are also, who are going to be taking care of you. And if all we ever hear is how lazy we are, and how we don’t value anything; how can you expect us to grow to our full potentials? And how can we expect to fix the problems we do have if members of our own generation are bad mouthing us? We will change the world someday. Some of us already are. Others still have some more growing up to do. But we’re young, and Rome wasn’t built in a day. But for now, stop labeling us as lost causes; because that is one thing we are far from.