In the history of maligned generations, mine may be the most severely, relentlessly and unfairly maligned. It’s true that we move back in with our parents and that we don’t go to church, but it’s not all bad. Here are some things we Millennials get right. I’m not saying no previous generations understood these things… as long as they’re not saying we are lazy, entitled brats. 

1. Sometimes showing up really is enough. 

Life is hard, people. Everyone can’t win all the time. Not showing up because you aren’t winning? That’s being a poor sport. 

It’s not about the winning; it’s about the game. Participation trophies all around!

2. Everyone deserves to be happy. 

You’d think a nation that started with the Declaration of Independence would get this on some intuitive level by now. 

3. Happiness isn’t found in stuff. 

We just don’t need cars and houses and IRAs to feel ok. 

Ok. We could go for a few of them. But for the first time we are a generation who needs, and seeks to amass, less stuff than our parents. 

4. Technology is as good or bad as we make it. 

Computers, smartphones, the Internet – they aren’t evil incarnate. They don’t have minds of their own (although, how cool would that be?); chances are we can program them, and we are certainly comfortable using them. We are also comfortable not using them, regardless of what the cranky old neighbors of the Internet think. 

5. War is ugly. 

How did everyone else not get this in the entire history of the world? War kills people and destroys entire nations. No one escapes unscathed. 

We get this. 

6. We are citizens of the world. 

That Internet thing? It’s made it impossible to forget that we live in an entire world full of delightfully diverse individuals who eat, live, work and believe differently than we do – and who still feel and dream and hope and love almost exactly like we do. They are our classmates, our coworkers, our friends and, increasingly, our family. 

7. Our children will inherit the earth. 

We’ve watched the environment go downhill. We’ve seen the oil spills and the droughts, the fracking-induced earthquakes and the nuclear spills. 

We’re done with it. 

8. We can learn a lot from our elders. 

Have you ever seen a Millennial sit down and just listen to an elderly person? No? Then you haven’t been watching. Again contrary to popular narrative, we value and appreciate the input of our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. That doesn’t mean we always comply, but we always listen. 

(Ok, maybe not always.)

9. Everyone deserves to be heard. 

We always listen. (Yeah, I’m back there already.)

We listen to both sides of issues. We listen to minorities and to foreigners and to the young and the old and the uneducated. We listen of Reddit and YouTube and Twitter. We listen to independent musicians and to the underpowered and  underprivileged and underpaid. 

10. Respect can be earned or given, but never taken or owed. 

This may be the one that earned us our reputation as rebellious rabble-rousers. We don’t give someone respect just because they have big fists, big titles or big money. 

That doesn’t mean we have no respect. 

No, it means we have immense respect. For ourselves. For our fellow humans – all of them. For respect itself. 

Go ahead – knock yourself out in the comments. We’re pretty much used to being attacked on the Internet. 

Also, we know how to find you. 

But mostly how to delete your comments. 😉