People always say our generation is ruining the world. I like to think we are actually running the world. People say we have a terrible dating culture. I like to think we have a freeing one. People think that we are obsessed with our phones and our selfies. They have literally labeled us the “selfie” generation. (Personally, I blame Kim Kardashian for the selfies, she should have known not to start something she couldn’t control).
But no one seems to be stopping and looking around at all the kick-ass shit we’ve done. Hello, we are part of the movement that finally got gay marriage legalized. We have Adele and Jennifer Lawrence for crying out loud. There is no way those two perfect creations could exist in a generation that is bad, it’s just not possible. And we can’t forget about Malala Yousafzai. She is probably the coolest fifteen-year-old in the world right now. Generation Y is also more involved in this year’s presidential election than young people have been for generation before us. How can you complain about young people getting involved in political campaigning? You can’t. And then there’s the fact that we are crazy aware of the earth and the potential effects of our actions on our environment, making us prime candidates to finally do something about it in the future. We’re advocating body positivity and freedom of expression. We’re the future, and it’s time to start acting like it.
Our generation may have some flaws but when you scroll back and look at it all, we are actually probably changing the world for the better. Here are a couple of reasons why:
We made a dating culture that fits what we want, not what society thinks we should want.
Yes, you could call it a “hook-up” culture if you want, but the reality of it is, it’s exactly what you want it to be. It gives you the freedom to choose if you want to date or if you just want to have fun. Now, of course, you have to take into consideration what the other person wants (because that’s just how relationships work) but we created an environment where society doesn’t really tell you no. Well, maybe we just stopped listening when society told us it was wrong to go out, meet someone and have fun for a night.
We decided that we were going to try to be accepting of people, even if they are vastly different from us.
I’m not saying that every person in our generation is accepting. I know that racism is still a huge problem and prejudice is still in our everyday lives, but if you look at our generation as a whole, I like to think that we are more accepting of people simply because we want to see real people. At some point, we decided that being fake wasn’t what we wanted our generation to be known for. So in order to stop pushing people to be fake, we choose to start accepting them as they are, flaws and all. That’s the whole reason Aerie’s Real campaign has done so well. We are tired of fake ass people being a part of our lives and a direct result to that is accepting people as they are.
We run with the fact that most of us have no f*cking idea what we are doing, and therefore aren’t afraid to fail.
We jump and learn to fly on the way down. We don’t wait for change to happen; we take a chance and make it happen. If we want our voice heard, if we want our story told badly enough, we go out and do it one way or another. We apply for that random job that could be fun because…why not? At least we were able to learn from it if nothing else. At least we did something. Yeah, rejection hurts and failing takes a toll on all of us, but in the end it’s worth it because I like to think it leads us to where we need to be to make the impact that we need to make.
So yeah, maybe our generation isn’t crazy amazing, and maybe we have flaws, but so does every generation. I like to think the good things outweigh the bad. We are the ones who are currently changing the world for the better and there is nothing you can do to stop us.
Featured image via Unsplash
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