Millennials:

The perpetual scapegoats

We have all heard the groans, moans, and jokes about millennials being the worst generation out there. In fact, there seems to be endless articles on the internet telling readers exactly why the millennial generation is just the worst.

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Don’t worry my millennial readers, this is not another one of those judgmental articles! This is why millennials are actually, in fact, just as great as everyone else.

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First off let’s get this straight, millennials are people from the ages of 22 to 37. That’s right, anyone outside that range who is sick of being insulted for being a millennial, officially has a fact to throw back that makes you smarter than whomever just insulted you. While it’s true there can be some overlap and confusion as to the generational titles, this seems to be the average consensus amongst online sources as to the millennial age group.

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Millennials are the generation who were hit hardest by two factors, the first being the Great Recession, the second being the outlandish growth of college debt. Meaning millennials are often given bad raps for being lazy, because they don’t have jobs or they still live with their parents. Other complaints include, that they are ruining institutions or traditions that have been emplaced in America for ages, like traditional marriages, or familial duties. Because millennials base most decisions off of money or debt problems, which are unlike those dealt with by the last three generations, their decisions are often harshly judged.

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For every negative article you find that desecrates the millennial generation you’re going to find an article to contradict it. Magazines like Forbes, and The Economist along with other less credible news sources have written articles that have supported both sides to the debate. However, with so many negative articles drowning out the good that millennials do it’s hard to remember everything that makes them exceptional.

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For example, millennials are more charitable than their older generational counterparts. According to entrpenuer.com, “millennials are a whopping three times more likely than Baby Boomers to donate to a crowdfunding campaign and 70 percent more likely than Gen Xers (the generation between Boomers and millennials).”

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This paired with the fact that millennials on average make up about 33% of donations on cause-based crowdfunding shows their distinct hunger to help others.

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Millennials are often labeled as having a bad work ethic or being lazy, but according to magazines like The Journal of Business and Psychology and the Economists, this is not true.

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The Economist wrote about a poll of 90,000 American employees which found that, “millennials among them are in fact the most competitive: 59% of them, in the latest poll, said competition is “what gets them up in the morning”, compared with 50% of baby-boomers. Some 58% of millennials said they compare their performance with their peers’, as against 48% for other generations”

And what about those grumbles that millennials are bad at managing money, because “they still live at home” or “have more debt than they should”.

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When looking at retirement savings Ramsey Solutions found in a survey given in 2016 that,  “38% of millennials reported they already know how much money they’ll need to retire — essentially the same as Baby Boomers, 37%, and Generation X, 36%.”

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They also found that, “Nearly 60% of millennials have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, but roughly half of Baby Boomers are in the same boat, despite the fact that this generation has had as much as half a century to save for their retirement.”

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Still need more proof that millennials aren’t the scum of the earth? Look at names like Nathan Sigsworth a “CEO and co-founder of PharmaSecure, a company that helps drug companies combat counterfeit medicine in the developing world, as well as help create dialogue between patients and their healthcare providers. His hard work and dedication landed him on Inc.'s "30 Under 30" list” according to ABC news.

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Or 2010 Do Something award winners which included millennials like, Will Perez a Brown med student, who is devising public-health programs for the NGO Hope for Haiti. His project includes Expanding access to health care, in Haiti and beyond.

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Other winners include Jessica Posner who in 2009 started Kibera’s (Africa’s biggest slum) first and only tuition-free school for girls. She also founded a community center that serves as a clinic, library, Internet access point and is working on expanding access to clean water.

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Mark Rembert an accepted member of the Peace Corps, created Energize Clinton County in Wilmington, Ohio. It is an initiative to create green jobs by encouraging investment in sustainable energy. ECC facilitates weatherization and has helped to build coalitions of private and public partners. It has drawn more than $1.3 million in funding.

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Have faith millennials: we know you are doing great, and you should too. Wipe off the haters who blame you for everything, and stand tall, you are a generation of doers, and debt survivors. You got this, now go change the world.