Gas prices go up—the Millennials did it. The wrong person got elected—the Millennials did it. Cell phones glitch and don’t always work—this is because of Millennials.
Anyone in their late teens and twenties is familiar with these statements. They can come from bosses, co-workers, teachers and even family members. Often the blaming is prefaced with, “I hate to say this to you, but…” Then release the Kraken. We’re blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong in the last ten years.
On behalf of every Millennial, I would like to say this. You’re wrong.
We aren’t the sole reason for everything bad in the world. How could we be? Our generation only began in 1982, and then capped off in 2004. That’s only 24 years. Gas prices have been fluctuating for more than 24 years. The government has been making decisions the general public doesn’t agree with for much longer than 24 years. The people who invented cell phones and technology are not from our generation. In fact, the first computer dates back to the 1940’s. The first cell phone broke into the world in the seventies—a decade before the Millennials were even born.
That isn’t to say that the Millennials are earth-bound angels who could never do anything wrong. We have done things wrong. As a Millennial, I will happily say that we have taken the English language and completely butchered it for the sake of making texting easier. Pointless acronyms are one thing in a message, but for some reason that wasn’t enough. We had to use them in real life. To be brutally honest, nobody should ever say lol in person. Keep it in iMessage.
That’s just a small thing. Our generation is oversensitive. Comments that used to be jokes, and could be taken lightly, have become vicious insults that start riots. Jokes about shoes, shirts or technology preference are taken with the utmost offense. If we look at someone the wrong way we’re accused of being all types of horrible things. Thirty years ago, that wasn’t the case.
Our generation is also wrongfully obsessed with consolation prizes. We grew up in a world where everyone got a trophy. I’m sure we can all remember a soccer game or t-ball game where both teams got trophies because everyone deserves recognition. Fun fact, if you lost, you didn’t deserve the trophy. You deserved the pride of knowing you’d done your best, or you just learned that you had to do better. Did you need a trophy to know that? No. None of us did.
We’ve become reliant on the opinions of complete strangers. We post picture after picture, desperately hoping to get one more like than we had before. But if we see any of those 50-likers out in public we usually turn our heads and look away. The “friends” we have hundreds of thousands of online aren’t really our friends or even acquaintances. They’re just people. People we can’t turn to in a breakup, job loss or even with good news. Because we’ve become so adjusted to the concept of virtual communication many Millennials cannot make phone calls or even hold a conversation with a new person because of social anxieties.
If you want to accuse Millennials of doing something, then accuse us of those things. Do not accuse us of causing unfair and intolerable inflation. The funny thing about inflation is that it’s affected by everyone. Not just one generation. No just one age group. Everyone. From your great-great grandfather to your baby brother. Absolutely everyone plays a part in the financial stability of the country you live in.
Don’t say that we are the reason the government can’t get on the same page. We voted. We didn’t vote for who won. So, when you want to say that Millennials should have gone to vote instead of standing on the sides of streets protesting, please do research. We did vote. We voted liberal because we believe in accepting people for who they are on the inside. Not for their skin tone, hair style, physical or mental abilities, love life or education status. People are people. There’s always going to be bad people, but most Millennials don’t assume that an entire race of people are horrible and vote against them.
Don’t say that we’re the reason technology has taken over the world. We really aren’t. You can thank the founders of companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft for that. (Fun Fact, they aren’t Millennials). You may want to say that we still purchase the products. It’s true, we do, and we do tend to grasp newer concepts faster. But that’s because we were raised with this technology, and not by choice. We were just born. We weren’t given a choice as to whether or not we wanted to grow up with TV, Internet and at-home devices when we were infants. That’s just the world we were brought up in. Believe me, many of us would love to be able to go a day without having to check our emails or be surrounded by social media. But it’s the only way for us to get jobs.
The same jobs that many older generations say that Millennials take for granted, or that we aren’t qualified for. Everyone in the entire world takes something for granted at some point in their life. That doesn’t mean that they are a Millennial, and it doesn’t mean that we don’t value the jobs that we have. Many of us were raised that we deserve to be respected in the workplace. When our bosses and managers treat us as invaluable parts of the workplace we aren’t going to stay there. We are going to leave, and we are going to speak out about it. It’s not about disregarding the value of a job. It’s about recognizing our rights as human beings. On top of that, many Millennials have and hold at least one job while going to school and helping their families. Just because one checkout person at one grocery store who happened to be in their twenties was short with you does not mean that they don’t value their job. It may mean they’re having a rough day.
Our generation can proudly say that we work hard to disintegrate workplace gender roles that have prohibited men from comfortably becoming nurses or made women feel uncomfortable as construction workers. But others look at us and say that we’ve disassembled the role of a man and the role of women because of our acceptance. If you mean that we recognize that there’s nothing wrong with a man staying at home to raise children just as there is nothing wrong with a single mom who chooses to work every day while her kids play sports, take the bus and join clubs, then yes, you’re right. We are disassembling gender roles. Never have Millennials said that men and women shouldn’t be married or have children. We just accept that sometimes that type of life isn’t going to make people happy. When you’re raised to find a career that makes you happy, why shouldn’t you be raised to have an entire life that makes you happy?
Some may say that Millennials have erased chivalry and etiquette, but I believe we haven’t. We’ve simply discovered that in today’s world some things mean more to us than opening doors or wearing skirts. I still appreciate having a man hold a door for me, stand up before I sit and offer to pay for me, and so do many other female Millennials. But we also appreciate when they encourage us to go out and chase our dreams. Instead of telling us what they want for dinner and shutting the front door in our face. Men still appreciate a girl who needs them in their life, but they also recognize that they need her just as much. Millennials have also recognized that you don’t need to be a man to hold a door open, or be a girl to be needed in somebody’s life. If the concept of gender equality offends you, and you see it as a problem “created” by our generation, then we aren’t the problem. You are.
It seems like everyday Millennials are blamed for something new. Something horrific. Something we didn’t do. Every generation has its pitfalls, and every generation is seemingly left voice-less until they finally get sick of it. Millennials are at that point. We are tired of being wrongfully accused of things, and never recognized for the good that we’ve done for the world. Whether it’s the pride of our country continuing to progress and become a more welcoming, safe home for everyone, or it’s as simple as replanting trees. It’s time that we are recognized for some good instead of bad, especially now.
