Thursday, July 14, 2016

AN OPEN LETTER TO YOUNG ADULTS

Dear young adults (you know who you are),

I know, I know. The world is a little messed up right now. Okay, a lot messed up. It seems like every time we turn the news on, another tragic event is unfolding somewhere in the nation. Events that have happened before and that are further dividing us and pitting us against each other. In other countries, we see that everyday citizens continue to get hurt and killed, yet nothing seems to be getting better. When we look to the government for help, we see name-calling, stereotyping and greed rather than guidance, hope and answers. We look to our education in hopes of growing and learning. Instead, we find extreme pressure, standardized testing and the need to excel at everything and more in order to pursue a college. And, once we are in college, we find that we are pushed on paths to study whatever is most practical for the job market rather than what is our passion, leaving us feeling unmotivated and stripped of creativity and excitement. We look at our environment, and see that we are destroying it. We are contaminating the air, pouring cement over the earth every chance we can get, cutting down trees and polluting the ocean when we know we have the technology and intelligence to avoid doing so. When we look around us, we see our heads looking down, staring at our phones, stuck in social media and false realities that keep us from living in the moment and interacting with the world. Our world is not the world we thought it would be when we were young. We thought we could be anything and do anything. We thought adults were there to protect us. They were smart, strong, and selfless. They could solve any problem we had. The world is not right.

Okay, did that cover everything? I get it. That is how we feel sometimes, maybe all the time. But, it's time to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. A teacher once asked my class, "How come your generation isn't scared?" She explained how back when she was a young adult, they were worried about everything. Terrified for their futures and for the future of the country. In that moment, I thought the answer was that we weren't scared because we were different. We were strong, smart, creative and prepared. We could take on anything. We were problem-solvers. We were hopeful. Maybe a little too idealistic, maybe naive. But, we were still hopeful. However, now, I find myself coming up with a new answer. Maybe, we just don't care. Maybe we pretend to care. Posting articles on Facebook, complaining about the elections on Twitter, joking about getting no jobs after college to each other...Are we hopeless? It's time to start acting like we thought adults were supposed to act. It's time we start being smart. We need to be strong. We need to be selfless. I know we can be these things. I know other generations make fun of us. They say that we are lazy, absorbed in technology, unable to communicate, entitled and lack motivation. Let's prove them wrong. Let's use the technology to create things, things that can better the world. Let's be creative. Let's be hard-working. Let's do these things for each other. Let's be problem-solvers. We have a lot of problems right now, but there have always been problems in the world. Let's solve them. 

That's all for now.
-m

3 comments:

  1. Maddy this is such a beautiful post witheans that are so rare and pure. I am so glad you posted this. I really did appreciate reading this.

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