I am a student. I am a watcher, a learner, and a listener, but I am also a war mongol, a city destroyer, a harbinger of pain and turmoil to countries that I have never been to. I am a peace bringer to nations that I have no business with, and a litigator between different opinions. I will know a war that most should not see, and, inevitably, will carry a generation on my shoulders with problems created by the people I call teachers. I will be forced to solve the problems created by my parents, passed onto my generation, and, unfortunately will continue unless we do something about it. I will live in a world neglected by the people I thought I could trust with my future.
My future... Saying that brings uncertainty to me because as a student, I should not have to worry about whether global warming will affect my hometown; I should not have to worry about whether my kids will have a planet to live on or not; I should not have to worry whether I will fear for the safety of my child because of the mistakes people refused to fix. My future... my future... does it even exist? And who do I have to blame for that? Who do I have to blame for screwing me over? Who do I have to blame for causing me, a child, to worry about this?
But do not listen to me. I am a student. I am only a child, what do I know about this? How can I care so much about this when I don't even know who I am? The truth is, if I do not care about this, if I do not say something about this, who will? Who will bring up the issues I must bring up? Who will fight for what I must? If no one says something at all, will there be anything to save when you decide that I am old enough to think for myself? Will there be anything to save when you stop being so self-centered and actually start listening to someone who cares? Will there be anything left for me to care about when those who are too stern headed to actually listen and see that this is not their planet anymore. When they get it through their thick skulls that it is not their planet to care for anymore, maybe then, just maybe then is when it will change.
It is not their planet anymore. This is my planet. It has been my planet since you decided to give birth to my generation. It is my planet to protect, my planet to save, and my planet to make better for my children. It will belong to my generation until I give it to my children, and while you may continue to be selfishly living your life with the thought that you need to save this planet for yourself, I have come to realize that is no longer an option, at least for me. Now the only option left is for me to make you realize that you need to make it better for me, so in turn, I can make it better for the next generation.
Think about it like this, who will be there when the next generation has taken charge? Not me, for I will have passed away. I will have left what I did in my life at the door step of the next generation, expecting them to deal with the good, and the bad of what I could not fix. I will be expecting my children to make up for the mistakes I made. Do I really want that for my children? The answer is clear. The answer is no.
I am a student... And I can see this. You are a parent, a chancellor of evil, a doctor of harm, but not to yourselves. No, you are what my generation fears, all because you are so focused on the question "how can I make this better for myself?" Only when you start listening to what I have to say is when you will be asking "how can I make sure that my children do not have to go through this? How can I make sure that my children will never have to deal with my problems?" These are the questions you need to start asking so that I may live peacefully; so that I do not have to fix your problems.
But do not listen to me... I do not know what I am saying. I am not old enough to think for myself. I do not know how things work for I am only a student.
