Disclaimer: The following is in no way directed toward any one person. It is merely my thoughts and opinions on a seemingly endless generational argument. It is not meant to offend, but to be realistic. That is all.

Entirely too many people think they have my generation pegged. They think "we were that age once, we know exactly what's on the minds of kids these days." They assume they know us better than we know ourselves. I'm going to set the record straight.

The only people who have my generation "pegged," as it were, is my generation. Nothing is the same as it was 5 years ago, let alone 30. Saying things like "We know how it is for you because we were that age once" doesn't mean a damn thing because the experiences you've had are far different from the one's we have. I'm not trying to sound like some "self-righteous kid" as may be perceived by some, but rather trying to shatter predisposed assumptions with fact.

The most annoying thing I hear is my generation being labeled as "underachievers." What is this based on? I'm not trying to be an expert on "your" generation, but I am an expert on mine. Too many people assume all people my age do is drink, do drugs and live a life of careless destructiveness that will lead us to nothing later in life. Generations are called such because they are composed of completely different sets of circumstances that help shape each age group into what they are. The reality of things world-wide is one of hard times. That's a fact. The global economy is worse than it was in The Depression. And yet people still have the gall to call my age group lazy? Is that what people in the 40-50 year old age bracket said about the "20somethings" during the depression? It would not surprise me, honestly.

Fact of the matter is, we're not all a bunch of beer drinking, pot smoking frat-boys and sorority girls with "no grasp on the reality of life." We are well aware of the reality of how things are right now because this is the time of our lives that are the most important to our futures. We don't have careers and families yet. We're fighting and bleeding and clawing for a day-to-day life right now. That somehow makes us totally oblivious to our futures? I'm sorry we don't all have Mercedes Benz and condos and full-ride college scholarships right out of high school as we're apparently expected to. That's just not realistic with things the way they are politically and economically. What we have is the result of our own blood, sweat and tears. And yeah. We're proud of our "meager" existence. We're proud of it because we earned it and we're still better off than half the people in this "great" country. That's reality. Working our way through college by flipping burgers or working as a cashier just so we can make something for ourselves later in life. That's reality. It's our reality.

2010 was a terrible year for many people for many reasons. Personally, I lost 8 people in that year alone who i considered like family. I lost them to the indiscretions of others. Each and every one of them fought and clawed to make ends meet and try to keep their personal futures bright and for what? To be hit by the shock waves of people who couldn't deal with what we have come to terms with. Shock waves from people who so willingly and vigorously pass judgment onto us our generation, calling us "worthless." Ironic, right?

Yet do you see me going out and partying and doing drugs and drinking to "cope with life" No. You see me with my friends who, between us in our comparably meager years and experience levels, have a greater understanding of how life is and what needs to happen to change things than our nation's "leaders." More irony, yeah? You see me striving every day to make it so that my family and I can make it month to month. You see me and my friends going out of our way to help total strangers retain some shred of the hope that is apparently disappearing in hopes that somehow, someway that hope will spread to others. We're not wasting our lives on meaningless activities like our peers claim. They need to look closer. They need to see that we are in no way any better or worse than any other generation, nor do we claim to be. And what they need to see most is that we are not only trying to better ourselves, but our friends, our families, our neighbors, our elders and total strangers because the only way this world is going to pull itself out of it's rut is to pull it's collective head out of it's ass and realize that all the energy that's spent arguing and pointing fingers and placing blame on someone else for why things are the way they are, could just as easily be applied to making a difference instead of bitching and moaning about a lack of change.