EMPOWER Malaysia organised a writing competition for aspiring writers with the theme “YOUth of Tomorrow”. This is one of the top entries in the essay category, written by Nur Ariana Iman.
“Enjoy your youth”, “Live life to the fullest”, and “#YOLO,” they said. That’s what I hear every time I go to those motivational camps held in school or now, online. “You are the future. We are depending on you.” Is what they tell us.
Now, I see a lot from my generation doing well. I see them going to riots, defending their rights as young citizens. #makeschoolasaferplace was started by a teenager who felt uncomfortable hearing rape jokes, which happens to a lot of girls back then too. My generation stood up for it. My generation started a lot of voices in our society today. Loving who you want to love, sexist jokes, racist jokes you name it. I mean, we ARE the leaders of tomorrow am I right? I am so proud of my generation. All of this is happening and people look up to us. Such a wonderful generation.
That’s what you see. That’s what the media portrays. You see the brave ones with a voice. You see the leaders of tomorrow.
How about the others?
How about the little girls in poor countries not getting the education they need? How about the teenagers who are living in toxic households? Ones who are still searching for their identity, those struggling to fit into society’s standards of beauty, of what defines you as successful. We are trying to live a happy life but are stopped by barriers known as standards, trends, and expectations. That one in five teens who are struggling to find a purpose in life and live.
No matter what we do there will still be people like this in our society. I don’t blame these people. I don’t blame those organizations helping these people, these organizations are doing the best they can to help these trapped leaders.
I blame our society and technology. I blame social media. It’s always #bodypositivity until she has an ugly face. Everyone has rights! Unless they’re too scared to speak up or they don’t have money to do anything. Everyone is beautiful until people on TikTok sets standards on who is beautiful and who isn’t. You’re too fat, lose some weight. You’re too tall, too short, too old, too young. You like Minecraft? Damn you’re weird. Your outfit is too exposing, cover-up!
Now tell me, how are we supposed to “Live life to the fullest” when we are being judged by almost everyone in society. We feel like eyes are following us everywhere we go, we feel conscious about our every movement, every word we say. “Don’t listen to what they say,” but it’s not that easy.
Our generation has done almost everything. We have brought our voice to almost every issue that was once a problem for other people. I believe in my generation to help save our world. Change society’s perspective on success, beauty standards, rights. Hey, future generations! We would not want the next generation to go through what we went through right? It’s going to be hard but I know, together we can achieve anything! Besides, we are the leaders, no, we are the successful leaders of tomorrow!