In just a few short hours, my childhood friend and I will be surrounded by signs that reflect our nation’s colors, reporters from city newspapers and almost two thousand people who are eager to listen. We’re attending a presidential candidate’s campaign meeting, and at just 19, I couldn’t be more excited.
The presidential nominee whom I’m listening to tonight will remain unnamed because my personal political standings are beside the point. What is the point, however, is why, at such a young age, my involvement matters.
As a college student, I often find myself falling into routine. Wake up, attend my 9:30 class (bless caffeine), attend a meeting for a campus organization, etc. It’s easy for me to forget about the world that exists outside of my campus, but every day it’s there, and every day there are issues at hand that I could, in the long run, have a hand at fixing.
Like most things in life, it’s easier to complain about what we’re unhappy with than actually create a plan-of-action. College tuition, for example. Or even the job market after college - there’s something not right about spending thousands of dollars on an education just to graduate with no potential career opportunities.
These issues directly affect my life. It’s not just about our parents or grandparents anymore, it’s about us. So, how does it change?
Before any action is taken, knowledge has to be obtained and individual opinions have to be formed. This happens by reading as much as you can from several different news sources and listening to political speeches, conferences, what have you. On a small scale, it’s attending city council meetings or even student government meetings. On a larger scale, it could be something like watching national press conferences.
After you’ve established what you believe, support and want to see pursued, get involved. Around election time, whether it be local or national, SHSU’s Student Government Association stands in the mall with information on how to register to vote, what your district is, how to go about it, etc. Spend two minutes of your day gathering information that you didn’t have before.
In America we have the opportunity to chose our leader, have a say in legislation, and if we don’t like something, we as voters have the power to change it. More often than not, presidential candidates know that not nearly as many millennials vote compared to older generations, so they don’t spend time addressing the needs of 20-somethings. We, however, could change that.
We’re the millennials, and we could change our nation.
