Spring Break
Students must begin banding together
Marianne Bossert
Issue date: 5/4/07 Section: Opinion
During the time we have been coming of age, we have seen a president of the United States start an illegal war based on false evidence, spy on the citizens of his own country, ignore the Geneva Conventions by allowing prisoners to be tortured and held without trial in secret prisons, among other atrocious acts. We have seen ourselves and our peers fall hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt just to get a halfway decent education. We have watched our homosexual friends be denied the right to be married because of an unpopular lifestyle choice. We have watched thousands of people die in Sudan for no reason other than their ethnicity. We have watched Earth become crippled under the weight of our waste.
And with a pathetically small number of exceptions, we have not lifted a finger.
In the 1960s, students and young people all over America mobilized to end an unjust war, protest against the government revoking civil rights, end discrimination against minorities and bring back respect for the environment. This trend is over, apparently, and that's a problem. This planet and humanity are not in good enough condition to continue existing successfully without some sort of action on the part of their new adults.
Cultural changes carry a large part of the blame for this phenomenon. The fundamental problem is that in our society, we have begun to care more about ourselves than each other, and this feeling makes us more apathetic about our fellow human beings.
When we were little, we were taught that everyone is special and unique, and that we should recognize and celebrate our differences in personality. We were taught that every culture, every idea and every point of view is valid and respectable, and that we should acknowledge all of them as equal to, although different than, our own.
Society as we are creating it is beginning to reflect those teachings. Minorities have clubs and groups representing each of them. Everyone has a Facebook profile, a MySpace profile and a personal blog detailing everything he or she feels and experiences. We all demonstrate, through these groups and electronic profiles, that we believe our cultures and ideas are unique and important.
And with a pathetically small number of exceptions, we have not lifted a finger.
In the 1960s, students and young people all over America mobilized to end an unjust war, protest against the government revoking civil rights, end discrimination against minorities and bring back respect for the environment. This trend is over, apparently, and that's a problem. This planet and humanity are not in good enough condition to continue existing successfully without some sort of action on the part of their new adults.
Cultural changes carry a large part of the blame for this phenomenon. The fundamental problem is that in our society, we have begun to care more about ourselves than each other, and this feeling makes us more apathetic about our fellow human beings.
When we were little, we were taught that everyone is special and unique, and that we should recognize and celebrate our differences in personality. We were taught that every culture, every idea and every point of view is valid and respectable, and that we should acknowledge all of them as equal to, although different than, our own.
Society as we are creating it is beginning to reflect those teachings. Minorities have clubs and groups representing each of them. Everyone has a Facebook profile, a MySpace profile and a personal blog detailing everything he or she feels and experiences. We all demonstrate, through these groups and electronic profiles, that we believe our cultures and ideas are unique and important.
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Eden Carroll Weis
posted 5/21/07 @ 2:08 AM EST
That was a long letter and full of concern about the future of America. What you may not know is that many young people do go online in forums and discuss politics and touch on all the issues you spoke of. (Continued…)
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