Youth Activism

Have you ever just sit down and wonder, “What am I doing with my life?” You wake up every single day, contemplating to go to class, you get ready for class and you’re still contemplating. You get to class, you meet up with your friends, you are somehow enjoying class. And it’s already the end of the day. When you get back to your room, you shrug for having to face those books again. You rest for a bit, and before you know it. It’s a whole new day but with the same old routine.

Just imagine

Imagine if every single one of us, did something in life to make the world a better place. But really, put your mind into this thought. Imagine those hours spent in the room or nights spent outside at hipster cafes, imagine all of those hours invested into something that would make a change in this world we live in.

The world we live in today sucks, period. Kids who have the privileges to attend school sigh every morning, kids who would die to get an education remain stagnant in a world void without possibilities. The Internet is just mean and wasted. Money wasted on new landscaping while there  are people living in boxes. Our time wasted on Kim Kardashian and Zayn Malik while Malala is bargaining her life for a safer world where kids can get their education they deserve.

Youths today either forget, or don’t even realize how much we can do to change something. That’s why it all starts with self-realization. Many among us just discuss, we just talk within our own circle of friends about things that are presumed as ‘far from possible’ hence we do nothing. We talk about the unprivileged, we talk about Islamophobia, we talk about the forgotten parents on the streets but we take no action. Simply because we underestimate the vast power we have in us.

Next, choose something to believe in. And it doesn’t have to be big. That’s the main point! Many of us get demotivated when we try to be the next prime ministers (though that is something logical to consider, currently). We try to fix every single problem in the world, exceeding our very own capacity and truthfully it gets overwhelming. It can start as small as cleaning the roads at our homes to building homes for the homeless. It can start from feeding the needy at Jalan TAR to talking to a whole group of young minds about joining your fight.

Untapped Potential

We have the strongest weapon in our era and it’s ours. Other than our rather vocal minds, we have the internet! The Internet is far misused by the majority of its users while it can be utilized as a channel to do build bridges to achieve what we desire, as a platform to encourage discussions where we can appreciate and celebrate the differences in perspectives.

We can do so much yet we do so little. Think about it, you could be the reason behind a kid’s bright future for teaching him basic English while you wait for the LRT every day at 4pm. We definitely do not have time to wait for our superiors to do things but the point is, we don’t have to wait. Because we have each other.

Again, if everyone of us did a little something, just picture how meaningful this world could be. So let’s progress from those long discussions during dinner in the cafeteria with your buddies to making those brilliant ideas happen. You don’t have to lose the youth in you, you don’t have to sacrifice those carefree moments with your squad, you can still post selfies on Instagram and enjoy One direction.

We’re just reviving this narrow definition of being a youth.

-Syntax Issue #1-