I'm 19 years old. I'm still a teenager — still a millennial. I've been working with politicians and businesspeople through work for a few years now. Aside from a few skirts, I've never been treated like a kid. The same is expected of me as would be expected from a 35- or a 50-year-old. I wouldn't have it any other way.
When I walk into the City Council chambers here in Auburn or the Statehouse in Montgomery, I have the same credentials as the other 20 reporters. As far as the other journalists there, I might be 20 or 30 years their junior, and even younger than the politicians, but they expect me to get it right just like they do.
And I usually do, or I try to at least. That's my job, which I happen to take very seriously.
I'm not the only 19-year-old with two jobs, a full course load, several co-curricular responsibilities and not to mention thousands in student-loan debt. I'm not the only productive youngin'. But I'm also not the only young person with the stigma of "millennial" hanging over my head.
Every generation derides their successors. For us millennials, we can't go a day without facing accusations of laziness, whininess, profaneness or wastefulness. We get the brunt of it. Everything is our fault. There is a lot of scapegoating, and — to use a millennial term — it's kind of unfair.
The accusations are usually devoid of an individual target, because they're hard to find. They're not directed at me, and it's not directed at the millennial who runs one of Auburn's most successful law firms or the millennial who put up one hell of a fight to run as a Libertarian to replace former House Speaker Mike Hubbard.
We are the most educated generation in American history. We're more tolerant of people who look different than us. We believe in the American entrepreneurial spirit and we are philanthropic. Our successes are ignored while our failures are highlighted.
It's hard to point fingers when you have to point at the people who are working themselves through trade school, the people who work minimum wage jobs to support their young families despite having college degrees, the people who face unprecedented challenges and still come out on top — even if they're a little banged up.
They can't complain about the Auburn men and women who run charities and design new software, or the millions of millennials who will be, or already are, our next generation of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, engineers, welders, electricians, writers and scientists.
These are the people who will solve the many crises we face but didn't create — the crises that have been handed to us — from the drug epidemic, to the $17-trillion national debt, to climate change or the over-saturated job market. We'll fix them.
We watch too much Netflix. We complain too much. We are too attached to our phones. We are too socially liberal. We are too politically correct. It seems like we — as a collective, as the "millennial" generation — can't catch a break, while individuals continue to succeed and overachieve.
Many of our downfalls are true, but they're also blown out of proportion. Every generation has their vices, but ours are painted to be worse than the Baby Boomers or worse than the Greatest Generation. Getting a few things wrong is part of growing up. It's part of coming into our own. We'll figure it out.
Don't blame us for struggling to support ourselves under rising tuition costs and lack of opportunity. Don't vilify us for relying on mom and dad when there are few jobs to support our education. Don't deride us for not saving when our rent is $500 a month, our paycheck is $300 and we still want to eat sometimes.
Don't paint with a broad brush. Give us a chance to succeed, because we will.
Chip Brownlee can be reached at community@ThePlainsman.com
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