She's too young to know about such things. He's too tough to care about your feelings. They're too naive to know anything but themselves. Belittling sentences are tossed from person to person, eventually reaching the ear of the teenager. That same teenage grits their teeth and forces a smile, laughing off the offense. That same teenager goes home and stares in the mirror, wondering if anyone would care if they just disappeared one day. That same teenager sees death on socials and hurts as if that death were their own. Belittling sentences build quickly, from whispers to gossip to accusations until that teenager snaps. Instead of forcing a smile or blinking away tears, that teenager whispers "Ok, boomer." Years of composed, mature wisdom fade away as one, ten, hundreds of "boomer" call ageism. Yes, well, Generation Z calls bs. We are exhausted from faking nonchalance as we are stereotyped. We are not lazy, fickle, or shallow. We are the damn future. What do we have to do to prove to you that we will succeed?