From the moment a child leaves the womb they’re faced with a cruel world filled with pain and people who want nothing but to put them down, a world still filled with colour, love and joy, nonetheless.
Some learn it the hard way, but we all need to stand up for ourselves in this life because there is no one else who will fight for us the way we will. It is the grandest form of self-respect to hold such confidence in your thoughts and philosophies to defend them. However, it is important to learn to accept when you are wrong and constantly evolve from your past mistakes into a better person.
So, when a self-righteous, obnoxious, close-minded person looks me straight in the eyes while I passionately talk about my beliefs and tells me I’m too young to have opinions, it strikes me. I hold my opinions close to my heart, always open to criticism to further better myself, and when someone degrades that fact by claiming I am not entitled to thought simply because of my age I honestly sigh.
Because, yes. Generation Z is too young. They’re too young to see and experience such struggle in the world. They’re too young to already have an arsenal of techniques for suicide prevention. Too young to fear being emarginated for who they love. Too young to hear harsh words of hate and ignorance falling off their families’ tongues. Too young to be catcalled and objectified in the streets. Too young to watch the news and see there’s been another femicide or rape, and sigh. Too young to be forced into a narrow image of toxic masculinity. Too young. We should not be so desensitized to such a violent reality which we have adopted as normal.
Why is it that we don’t understand the hardships our youth face?
Why is it that we continue discarding their powerful statures just because we deem them too stupid?
Generation Z holds the knowledge of the entire world at their fingertips, something never beholden to any generation before. We have been forced to grow up too quickly with harsh realizations of what the world is. So, you cannot blame me for being hyperaware about these issues.
Why can’t we just listen, for just a moment, about what they have to say? They are the leaders of tomorrow and the true heirs to all the world has to offer. Their opinions matter just as much as any other middle-aged persons’.
The next time you look at an adolescent, try to fathom all the knowledge they hold and try to fathom their interpretations and opinions about it. Help them grow. Teach them. shape their understanding of the large, large world around them and I promise you, there will be no regret.
Your generation might have won battles, but mine will win the war.
We are the ones who will instil peace because dying was never our biggest fear.
We are tired of living in such a hating world.
So now, with rage as pure as fire, we will rise and we will yell for change.
We will march on a road paved by the blood of the innocent and pain of the young.
And it will be revolutionary.
(This article was originally posted on civilsocietymt.com)
Written by: Ella Micallef Darmenia
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