If you never had a day of stress in your life, kudos to you. You are the envy of the majority of the human population. Stress is inevitable - a part of life that we must learn to overcome. However, when I observe the American youth during my travels on Subway cars and buses, I feel that America has forgotten how to love. By this, I mean that the ideals of our nation - life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness - have been taken for granted.
I have to admit, I am too lazy to learn how to drive. Being a New York, my daily life consists of commutes by mass transit because buses and trains and easily acceptable. Where am I going with this? Well, during my commutes, I often like to distract myself from the rat race noise. At some points, however, I tend to lower the volume of my music and listen to conversations between the youth and adults. The results are pretty shocking. Teenagers, heck even toddlers, are openly abusive in their language. From racist comments to derogatory remarks, the generation before us has taught children to accept the language of combat and isolation. For children as young as six years old to mock the elderly, a person's religion or accent, or judge the homeless - we have not progressed ourselves as a nation; we have promoted the language of combat and isolation.
Now take for example the public high school classroom. As a New Yorker, I try to keep an open mind and keep my guard up against anything the students say. Yet, I find myself saddened at the end of the day; not because of their lack of participation - but by the combative nature of their responses. The youth feel that they are self-righteous and entitled to anything. Sure, they may be young and still have to grasp the ideals that high school will teach them, but I believe that if we cannot teach our children to love one another, then society is really broken. Society has been divided, especially in 2016, with the divisive rhetoric that is promoted by a certain political figure who will not be named, and the result is the promotion of classist, sexist, xenophobic, and economic undertones that threaten society.
I may sound like a teacher who is just venting after having a bad day of teaching, but the heart of the lesson I learned holds water: If we forget to teach our children how to love - that is to have respect and open minds - then we will never see the bright future that our parents tried to share with us when we were younger. In short, we need to encourage hope - not division.
