A theme I've wanted to keep in my writing is positivity — I'm a true believer that the good comes with the bad, so I always try to emphasize positive outcomes in negative situations and so forth. This time, I am writing to express my feelings about the cruelty of the words spoken by adults so casually in conversation: MILLENNIALS ARE SO SPOILED! Please, allow me to rebuttal. I like my generation. We're more accepting than our older family members, we have opportunity abound, we are all striving to make the world great, and if we're not: we're probably the "millennials" you've been dreading.

I was born in 1995 to middle class parents who could afford to send me to private schools and now out of state college. For the record, I was taught how to use a dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia online and written texts because that was part of the curriculum. I also use my manners that my mother taught me: may I, please and thank you. I know people much wealthier than I, who have experienced many more things, but I've been privileged to experience traveling by myself, figuring out on my own how to get from Canal St. back to Times Square, where the train connects from Waterbury to Grand Central, and where to board my connecting flight in Atlanta after having a direction malfunction on the concord. I've learned many things through having an independent young adulthood, and anytime I could've been deemed irresponsible was a learning experience for me, and there are many, many things I now can do by myself because I'm naturally curious. The imagination IS a wonderful thing.

I just want to say that I speak for a majority of my generation when I say my parents aren't wealthy and I am not entitled. I've paid for most of the things I own unless they were gifts or my grandma gave them to me. I will forever be in debt to my parents for my education and for the independence they've granted me throughout my life. Perhaps I'm a free spirit, perhaps I can be trusted. What I find most important is that I was never babied or told that I couldn't. If I couldn't, I figured out for myself via time-out in my room for hours. I was never hit, so I never became fearful of people. I belonged to a working class family, and my sister who is eight years older than me, for as long as I can remember has been working; I believe I was raised to understand that I won't have anything handed to me.

Anyone who is in college right now is either considering moving back with their parents because the cost of living is so high, or graduate school because a bachelors degree doesn't have the value it did when our parents were in college. Graduate school is so expensive, if you're lucky enough to get a graduate assistantship that pays your tuition, that's likely the only way many of us can afford graduate school. Point being, anyone in college has higher competition now than EVER before. People who claim "millennials are spoiled" probably watch the news, but have obviously missed the segments about tuition prices increasing, entry-level jobs demanding higher education and the competition we face in almost any industry we're studying or trying to pursue. How spoiled ARE WE? Because I know my mommy and my daddy aren't getting me in where their friends work. I know many people my age who are paying their own college tuition; try telling them millennials are spoiled!

Of course, every day at WVU I can observe what people mean by clustering boys and girls who are aged 18-22 as spoiled. I really wonder how some of these people have massive Michael Kors bags, four door Rubicon Jeeps (obviously totally jealous because I want one so bad) and still manage to afford college and probably a sorority or fraternity. I just know that's not how my life is, or ever could be at this time in my life. Or the people I serve a 'venti frappuccino' to every day at the cafe, I wonder how they afford it? Well if you know a millennial who exhibits entitlement, they were probably raised that way (I'm not saying that having a nice car and big hand bags correlates to entitlement, but maybe). I hate seeing, "These millennials are spoiled," and I hate hearing it IN CLASS from teachers. It's funny that we're spoiled with the INTERNET but you're not complaining when you use it! That's the best part, everything we're "spoiled" for, parents or people over 40 take advantage of, too. When our parents were 20 years old, they had things their parents didn't have when they were 20, too. But their parents probably didn't whine about it. Or they did, and that's where all the whining came from. Millennials reading this: don't ever complain how you hate when adults say, "Millennials are so spoiled," then turn around and do it to your kids, the point is to stop the trend. I just wanted to reach out and express how petty it is when people say that. As if it's our fault we grew up in this time of advancement of electronics and handheld devices. There's also more exposure to culture now more than ever! There are opportunities for learning and experiences offered everywhere. Note: we didn't ask for this, actually; the world is just advancing.

I'm asking every adult who has probably said, "Millennials are spoiled," or felt this way to rethink what you're saying. I understand you're not "growing up" in this time, but you're still part of it; you still have your iPhone to play on and your morning news to watch in color, but leave us millennials alone. Because we're going to take over someday, and our kids are going to be way more advanced than we are. It's the way of the world, and the only thing we can do is help it; humanity has done nothing but advance with time. And, we're smarter than you think; don't underestimate us.

Disclaimer: I thoroughly believe that each individual is like a snowflake (let me be cliche). We're all humans made from the same substance, but we are so intricate and unique in nature. If I over generalize, don't cry, okay? I'm just going to point out the obvious, because I like to throw things into the atmosphere that are so commonly overlooked and no one bothers to rebuttal — and if they do it's not in a civil, well articulated way, there's always a fight; causing further miscommunication and mistrust in millennials.