It is genuinely impossible to stress the importance of being aware of the world around you. Many people, not only millennials, are stuck in this sort of egocentric world. Although I won’t entirely condemn that, it isn’t okay when it comes at the expense of others. Let’s take an example-

Disclaimer: I am not explicitly identifying with either party, but merely objectively stating observations from the video.

https://www.facebook.com/thedailyshow/videos/10154...

If you really didn’t feel like watching, Jordan Keppler, a correspondent for The Daily Show, attended a Trump rally to unravel conspiracy theories regarding Hillary Clinton’s health. Supporters claimed that Hillary Clinton has AIDS. How? Her husband, Bill Clinton, obviously gave it to her; (he himself got AIDS from Magic Johnson, a retired LA Lakers basketball player). I assume the supporter meant Monica Lewinsky, who Bill Clinton had an affair with while he was in office. Apparently, Obama was not born in the United States, either; a mother witnessing her own child’s birth is not enough considering she “has motivation to lie”. Following that logic, Trump likely wasn’t born in the United States either, right? That statement was clearly asinine-- so here’s the bigger picture.

How can someone be so vehemently supportive of a specific perspective they clearly have minimal knowledge about? It’s good to know how one feels about a certain issue but not in an ignorant or selective manner. In the case of elections, those opinions very much so affect the rest of the nation.

I often stress the importance of understanding material from an objective perspective and strongly believe it is important to know multiple sides of the issue at hand. Being aware of the world around us is paramount because often times, issues faced by repressed groups cannot be solved until they are backed by thousands more of another group, usually the majority. Take Black Lives Matter, for example. Although you may not be of the African American race, that doesn’t exempt you from supporting the cause; especially because their oppression is by other racial groups.

Then there are also cases with criminals like Brock Turner, a rapist at Stanford University, who only served 3 months of his 6 month sentence. Compare this to Bernard Noble, a 49 year old father of seven kids. Noble is facing thirteen years in Jackson Parish Correctional Center for possession of 2.8 grams of marijuana. This is only one instance of thousands in which equal justice has not been served. It is our duty to stand behind victims of injustice and continuously call out the justice system. It all begins with that simple knowledge that yes, this issue exists and this issue is real.

Our choices and opinions are overwhelmingly important. I’m definitely not well versed on every topic in the world but I admire peers that are constantly sharing relevant videos and articles on social media. It’s a seemingly small action, but it calls attention to a matter that one may not have been as well educated on prior to that post.

Generation Y is, quite literally, the future of the world so it is imperative that we take initiative and get out of this enclosed world many of us live in. We are the ones that will be representatives for our districts and be holding places in office. It is our decisions and mindset that will dictate whether or not our future businesses support environmental efficiency or the emissions of tons of CO2 per year. It is impossible to know the minutia of every subject because of how esoteric some topics can be, but becoming even the slightest bit more aware of an issue is the least we can and should do.

Question the information handed to you- does Hillary Clinton actually have a clone like the conspiracies state? Was Bush actually behind 9/11? Refuse to be indifferent, understand the objective side and read up on anything that doesn’t make sense or something new that sparks your interest. Progression never birthed from ignorance.

In the case that you do want to know more, you can subscribe to the Skimm, (https://www.theskimm.com/?r=9d0f1ae5) an email newsletter that sends daily, to-the-point summaries of world news, watch John Oliver on Last Week Tonight (he’s FANTASTIC), and install apps- NY Times has a daily issue with a full summary of events and Al Jazeera is a great non-biased news source.