When I was a kid, I used to think that adults were much like superheroes, because this was seemingly the only logical explanation as to how they might accomplish all that they do in a day. Growing up, I slowly began to learn and understand the universal truth that, regardless of our many distinct appearances, we all have something in common — we're all still trying to figure out just who we are and why we are here. In pursuing this question of self-actualization, we end up in places we might have never imagined when we were young, or in the words of Dr. Seuss:
"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."
While the journey to where we are now may not always have been paved with gold, the journey ahead is as bright as it is long. We’ve come a long way since the days of orange VHS tapes, "Captain Underpants" and AIM, but that’s not to say it’s been all fun and games. Ours is a generation with a world of responsibility upon its shoulders, but much like Ayn Rand’s "Atlas Shrugged," oftentimes we find ourselves shrugging in response.
What comes next in our own lives is as much up to us as is what happens next on the world’s stage. While most of the various "powers that be" would have you believing otherwise, you do have power — you are a living, breathing, (hopefully) thinking human being with a world of possibility before you. Not everyone can grow up to become president of the United States, but then again, if Donald Trump can become the Republican Party nominee then it’s safe to say any one of you reading this is just as (if not more) qualified to be the next leader of the Free World.
Some days we find ourselves asking, "What is it that I have done/accomplished with my life?" and more often than not, the answer is less than appealing to our sensitive souls. The trouble with introspection is that our lenses are often cloudy, not to mention that we spend more time focusing on what we've yet to do, instead of how far we've come. In my experience, there's little to no end of the whole "who am I/why am I here?" conundrum, but I do know this — whether we realize it or not, our place on this Earth is not without purpose. That is to say that there is a reason you are here, just as there is a reason I am here. Whether we may ever truly understand this purpose is beyond me.
What I aim to say in my rambling is that your presence on this place we call Earth is not without purpose. Your very existence is not without purpose, there has never and will never again be anyone "you’er than you," once more in the words of Dr. Seuss. The time is at hand to begin writing and living the story that is the rest of your life. Savor it, create yourself and let ours be the generation that brings hope to a world that so desperately needs it.
