I must admit, I’m fascinated by all the blog posts and thoughts that are popping up on Millennials. The Millennial Generation is the one of which I am a part and is the one, for now, that the college students I work with live in. Many of those articles, blog posts, and thoughts resonate with me and, often, describe my thought processes and tendencies far better than I ever could have myself.

Many times after reading these posts I often find myself committing the cardinal sin of the internet: I scroll through the comments. I know you’re not supposed to, I know that it is never a good path to take, but I sometimes can’t help wanting to see what others are saying about a post that was pretty much, indirectly, about me.

I’m always taken aback at what I read. Though not always the case, most of the time I find comment after comment from people outside the Millennial generation who use their platform as a commenter to tell this generation what’s wrong with it. “Stop doing this,” “you need to see it this way,” “your ideas/theology are messed up and need fixing,”- and on and on they go.

Really, as someone who finds myself right in the midst of the statistics, “10 things” lists, articles and books, I take offense. Just because I approach things differently politically than you, understand faith differently than you, dress differently, etc. does not mean something is wrong with me. It does not mean that I need to renounce something or let something go.

Neither does it mean this for the non-Millennial either. Your differences from me don’t make you wrong either.

Perhaps it’s my “millennialist” thought that makes me want to exclaim: “we can both disagree but exist in the same world!” After all, I would love for those commenters to see things as I do just as much as they want me to do the same from their perspective. I think all the arguing is just circling the wagons and making a bigger divide between the generations.

Perhaps, a good option would be for us to seek to understand each other. I am not dumb because I’m young and you are not out of sync because you are older. We have both lived some amount of time and can learn from each other and the way we each approach the world.

This is why I believe that inter-generational conversation is so important. We can learn so much if we just find the time to sit down together and listen to why and how we each approach the world, and then find a way to love each other and grow together, despite our different ways of approaching things. (This is a two way street and me and my fellow Millennials are just as guilty of dismissing and our willingness to learn is needed for this to work).

I am exited for my generation. I am excited for the new generation that is coming. I am excited to live in a world with Boomers, Xers, and Builders. If we can find ways to learn from each other, rather than point fingers or dismiss, I think the world might just become a better place, or at least an easier one to live in.