A Rant from a Millenial

You know what I am so insanely sick of? The previous generations blaming us Millennials for literally EVERYTHING. Nobody is buying diamonds? Blame us. Restaurant chains are dying? Blame us. Human rights are being violated and forgotten? Blame us.

NO. HELL NO.

If you need somebody to blame, then look in a mirror. You previous generations royally fucked us. We will never retire. We will never own a house. We will never have a savings. We will never get out of debt. Ever. Because of YOU. Not us, or us buying avocado toast.

You call us spoiled, entitled, bratty. You want the reality? We not only live paycheck to paycheck, but those few days right before the next paycheck are harsh. Sometimes we don’t eat. Sometimes we can’t afford to do laundry. Sometimes we can’t afford tampons. Sitting in your own blood for 2 days because you can’t afford a new box of tampons doesn’t sound entitled to me.

You pressure us to go to college, but guess what? Unless you are brilliant in school or at sports, you can’t get a scholarship. So right out of the gate, you are $30,000+ a year in debt. We aren’t trusted to rent cars or hotel rooms without an extra deposit. We are literally judged for EVERYTHING that we think, everything that we do, everything that we want.

Sometimes all we want is enough security in life to survive.

That isn’t being a spoiled brat. That is human dignity. Human rights.

So stop blaming everything YOU did to this economy, to this planet, the US. We weren’t even born yet! We are merely trying to fix it. Trying to get equal rights for every gender, for every type of race, for every type of love. That’s all we truly want.

So no, we aren’t buying diamonds. No, we aren’t buying houses. No, we aren’t eating at expensive restaurants. But you know what we ARE doing?

We are protesting. We are gathering in HUGE groups all around the world for the things we believe in. We march. We believe. We LOVE. We are on each others teams. We simply CARE.

People often forget that this generation has had to witness absolute horrors that nobody else did at such a young age. We had to watch 2 students massacre their fellow students at Columbine High School. We had to watch 4 planes get hijacked and 2 flown into massive skyscrapers. We had to watch those buildings fall down, knowing everybody inside was dead. We had to watch yet another student open fire on an elementary school in Newtown. We had to watch a man massacre people watching a Batman movie in Aurora. We had to watch a homophobe murder innocents in Orlando simply because of who they love. We had to watch cops sit around on their asses literally feet away from a shooter who murdered 21 kids and a teacher.

Don’t EVER forget the blood and terror our generation has had to endure. And yet, that made us extremely compassionate people.

In 2016, I went to a gay pride parade in St Petersburg FL. This was only a few weeks after the shooting at a gay nightclub, Pulse, in Orlando. And it was simply the most inspiring, peaceful and emotional thing I have ever experienced in my life. No, I am not gay, but yes I support it. People were just…caring. Nobody cared who you were, or the color of your skin, or who you loved. All anybody cared about was the pride. The respect. The love.

And that’s how it should be.

So if us Millennials are doing everything wrong, I am damn proud to be part of this generation. We care. Can you say the same thing?

No.