Growing Up And Being Called a Kid

This post is going to be a little different from most of my posts but I feel like its time to talk about it. This may offend some people but that is not the intention for this post. This post is based completely on my opinions and thoughts. 

I am young, I am in my early twenties and for some people this means I haven't lived long enough to know much. In my short twenty-ish years I have watched many people close to me pass away, raised my little sister, worked a full time job while being a full time student, dealt with extreme physical hardship, and been told I was incapable of things because of my age more times then I can count. 

One of the most frustrating things about being part of the Millennium generation is the way other generations look at us. We are irresponsible, unreliable, and know nothing about the real world because we are too young to understand. However, for most of the people in my generation this is untrue, we raised ourselves a lot of the time. Most of us had TV baby-sitters, parents who worked 2-3 jobs, and were helping do chores and cook dinner by 10. These aren't bad things they are just the reality of having parents who did everything to make ends meet. 

One of the most important things I have learned in college is not to judge a person based on their age, gender, nationality, or my first impression. What's that saying, "Never judge a book buy its cover?" This is taught to all of us at such a young age and yet very few follow this. 

So I want to encourage all of you to take a step back, really look at the person who you are talking down to. Make sure this "kid" you think knows nothing hasn't watched a parent die, raised younger siblings, worked since 14 to help put food on the table, or raised themselves. How do you know they haven't gone through more then you in their short years of life. 

Because unfortunately the reality is that more of us have dealt with hardships at a young age then you. More of us have had to grow up so fast we missed a lot of what you think we should be doing. So take a look around next time before you just assume we are young kids with no idea what's going on in the world.