With Donald Trump in power, it is easy to be pessimistic about the future of America. Mass shootings and weapons proliferation, terrorism at home and abroad, opioid epidemics, and anti-intellectualism threaten to undo centuries of progress. Selling out to big business means that everything we do is potentially tainted by commercialism, like the ways tobacco advertisements are still placed prominently in urban areas. The perpetuation of racism remains a critical concern too, as many Americans—spurred on by the president—believe that taking the knee is an affront to American values.
Yet young people need to remain optimistic. We are the hope for America’s future, and we can fulfill our goals if we are all willing to play a role in making our country truly great. Our participation in the voting process is of course important to ensuring the foundations of democracy, but beyond that, we also need to look inward. We need to become more aware of the biases and belief systems that are holding us back.
I believe that young people today are less biased and more interested in progress than our parents. When the story about Harvey Weinstein broke in the popular news media, we never questioned the next step, or our determination to stop these kinds of things from happening. We are the generation that unconditionally supports universal rights regardless of sexual orientation or religion. It is our generation that offers hope for an America that can once again be competitive on the world market because we improve our education system. We have hope that we can strengthen universal healthcare to mirror the ways intelligent countries manage their resources, rather than taking a step backwards as the Republicans suggest. It is more important now than ever before to cultivate a feeling of hope for the future. Let us work together, especially with people who are different from us, to create a better and safer future for everyone.
