When I look at the world around us, it's easy to get discouraged sometimes. There's so much injustice, so much shortsightedness, so much selfishness. But then I see young people - high school and college students - standing up and speaking out, and it gives me hope. Because these kids, they're not just the future. They're the moral compass of our society.
And when I see these young activists taking to the streets, raising their voices, and demanding change, I can't help but think of that powerful song SPEAK OUT by Rising Appalachia and Ani DiFranco:
Step up
Speak out
Show up
Be loud
Protest music has a huge history for young people, pointing out the importance of speaking up, stepping up, and showing up when it matters most. And that's exactly what these students are doing. They're embodying the spirit of that anthem, using their voices and their presence to shake up the status quo and fight for a better world.
As an older person, I know that my generation has a tendency to tell these young activists to settle down, to be more strategic, to respect the complexity and nuance of the issues they're fighting for. We lecture them about being too idealistic, too impatient, too aggressive in their tactics. And in this election year, I hear a lot of my peers telling student protesters, "Don't ruin the election. Don't be too radical. Don't scare away the moderates."
But you know what? That's exactly what older generations have always said to young people who are protesting for change. It's the same script that was used against the civil rights activists in the 60s, the anti-war protesters in the 70s, the LGBTQ+ rights advocates in the 80s and 90s. "Wait your turn," they said. "Don't rock the boat. Don't jeopardize our chances of winning."
But the truth is, those young activists were right. They saw injustice and inequality that their elders were willing to tolerate, and they had the courage to say "enough is enough." They pushed society forward, even when it was uncomfortable and controversial. They made the world a better place, not by being cautious and measured, but by being bold and uncompromising.
So to all the young activists out there who are facing pushback from people like me, I want to say: don't listen to us. Don't let us convince you to tone it down or play it safe. Keep doing what you're doing. Keep speaking truth to power, keep fighting for what you believe in.
Because the world needs your passion, your energy, your moral clarity. It needs you to hold us accountable, to shake us out of our complacency, to remind us of our highest ideals. It needs you to be the conscience of our society, even when - especially when - it makes us uncomfortable.
And to my fellow oldsters, I want to say: let's take a step back and remember our own youth. Remember when we were the ones out there marching and shouting and dreaming of a better world. Remember how frustrated we felt when our elders told us to be patient, to wait our turn, to let the grownups handle it.
Let's have the humility to recognize that maybe, just maybe, these young people know something we don't. Maybe they see the world more clearly than we do, with all our years of experience and all our talk of pragmatism and realpolitik.
So let's listen to them. Let's support them. Let's create space for their voices to be heard. Because in the end, their fight is our fight. Their vision of a more just, more compassionate world is the one we all share.
And if we have the wisdom to follow their lead, to join our voices with theirs, to add our strength to their cause - well, then maybe we'll find that a better future is closer than we ever dared to imagine. Maybe we'll discover that the radical idea of a world where everyone is treated with dignity and respect isn't so radical after all - it's just the right thing to do.
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