That’s right, I said it.

There’s a lot of millennial bashing going on.

Generalizations about millennials.

And as with any generalization, there’s going to be some truth to it.

Granted, millennials grew up and they got participation trophies and a lot of them didn’t learn to compete athletically, because everybody got to play, which I think is a hindrance to how you develop as a man.

There are thoughts that a lot of them are lazy, and they all just want to get rich because they’ve seen other people do it on Youtube and Instagram.

Is that their fault?

Well, it’s the generation that they grew up in, so what you see and how you grow up is how you want to dream as well.

I remember back in 1986 or 1987, there were people that would come into the bar that I was bartending at, and they would say how much they hated yuppies. Yuppies were cocky, arrogant men and women who were kicking ass in finance and advertising and other things. They drove nice cars, they did cocaine, whatever it might be.

There was always an older generation that said how much they hated that yuppies didn’t have to work as hard as they did, and they always had generalizations.

Well, I’m the older generation now, and I don’t think millennials are that awful.

As a matter of fact, I love millennials.

All generations have their faults and their faults derive from how they grew up.

Millennials are, generally, socially lazy.

They’d rather swipe than actually talk to people.

Well, they grew up that way.

They grew up texting.

They grew up on AOL Instant Messenger.

They grew up on social media, so of course when that is shoved in front of their face 24/7, why do they need to go do what my generation and the generation before me did? Why do they need to go and talk to people…

…when it’s so easy just to chat with somebody on Snapchat?

Or chat with somebody on Instagram?

Yes, people my age look at that and go, it’s lazy.

But in reality, it’s how they were programmed to be. Just like we were programmed to be the way that we are, they were programmed to be this way.

So why bust their balls and why get on them because they’re a product of the environment they grew up on?

There’s a lot of positives to what they do.

First off, a lot of them are creative geniuses, because they’ve been on technology since they literally gave up a pacifier. They went right to technology, a lot of them are some of the most brilliant coders, developers and entrepreneurs that I’ve ever seen.

They’ve managed to make money based on their brain power, and a lot of them have even managed to do it without having to go through the old school method of going to college. They learned a lot of this on their own, and they were able to become successful. I honor that. I respect that.

When it comes down to freedom of choice and dating, a lot of my generation had to keep things in the closet.

You’re a white man who wanted to date a black woman, well, that really wasn’t really well respected or honored. You would get looks and be stared at. Interracial dating didn’t exist as much. It was talked about. You saw eyes dart around the room when you saw an interracial couple.

Nowadays, you don’t even think twice about it. Maybe in some parts of the country, in some parts of the world, it’s looked down upon.

But you know what?

Most of the world right now has become very multi-cultural.

That’s a beautiful thing. We’ve become one thanks to the progressiveness of the millennial generation.

If you were a gay man or gay woman growing up when I grew up, you didn’t stand a chance.

You had to stay in the proverbial closet.

Now, just the other day I talked to a millennial who was 23 years old. He talked about his relationship with a guy that he’s dating, and it’s perfectly acceptable. He doesn’t have to live life in the closet, he’s able to express his sexuality and be free with it.

That’s a beautiful thing, and that’s progress.

So, we can look at the negative parts of what the millennial generation is, or we can embrace the positives.

I choose the positive, and that’s why I love millennials.