Give us some credit.

I realize that my generation doesn't get enough credit for who we are, for what we do and the potential we have to do great things. So often we are disregarded. We are told that we are inheriting a terrible hand of cards, that the economy is crap, the government sucks, and we need to grow up and be prepared to take care of it and fix it, even though we had close to nothing to do with how it got this way. We are told to handle it ourselves, but not given a chance to because we're "too young to understand" or "we don't know what we're doing." Because of our age, we can't do anything. But then who will? Obviously not those "responsible adults" who we're supposed to look up to, who generally tend to be the ones in authority messing it up. I'm not talking about all of our parents. I've been raised by a loving mother and father who have instilled morals in me and would do anything to ensure I have a bright future and make sure I'm happy doing what I want with my life. My parents understand how bad our generation has it and are empathetic to that. I'm talking about those elders who have been put in charge who end up making things better for their generation at the expense of our futures. Don't get me wrong, I respect my elders. But not if they don't respect me and my future. You can't just put your responsibilities on those who are younger than you and not give it a second thought and think that that's okay. I'm sorry, but it's not. The world doesn't work that way. Or at least it shouldn't.
Today in class we talked about our masterpieces, what I like to think of as our "passion projects." These are things that us students are passionate about and want to emphasize to others. Each one of our projects is unique and tailored to our passions. But if you think for a second that these are simply high school assignments for a grade, you're wrong. We're trying to make a difference. Today I listened to my fellow classmate's ideas. One of my fellow colleagues had this idea about body image. Her project was meant to emphasize how messed up it is that young people, especially girls, are given an image of what "perfect" is, and expected to attain that physical appearance. And you know who is feeding that idea of artificial perfection down the throats of teens and children? Adults in the fashion industry. Grown men and women, manipulating the minds of the young. Please, tell me how I'm supposed to have respect for that. Another couple of my classmates wanted to change the way children are coached in sports. They became passionate about this partially because when participating in a special needs baseball league for children, the grown coaches were being harsh on the athletes. The coaches became frustrated when one of the kids with a mobility disablement started pitching a game that wasn't up to par in their opinion. My colleagues, on the other hand, were just proud of the kid for being able to go out there and pitch at all. Sports should be a fun opportunity for the kids to learn life skills and enjoy themselves, not a chance for adults to take advantage of their authority and get angry when they don't win. These are just a couple of examples of projects where students who are 17 and 18 years old are trying to fix the corruptness that has been caused by those "respected elders."
I'm not saying that we should be granted full responsiblity to fix the world that we've been handed. But I am saying that there's no way we can even try if we're not given the chance. So please, if you're an adult who still views teenagers as irresponsible and incapable, suck up your pride and give us the opportunity to show you that we're not.