Every day, the internet is flooded with news that either shows progress or the society moving a step back. For an emotional individual like me, I’ve always believed that I would save the world from all evil.
I still do, but I’m just waiting for my gold armour and sword.
However, I’m sure it’s not only me who feels the responsibility to ‘save the world’. The very person reading this article right now, that is you, have the power to change the world for the better.
We belong to a generation that has given birth to crazy trends that have blasted all over Instagram and Snapchat. Each year we keep on creating many cool slangs/popular words that are used globally. Most of us have contributed to several social movements online, that have changed the mindset of many. As a celebrity tweets something, in a millisecond half the world knows what’s happening. We’ve created real online connections with people from different continents that are emotionally strong.
If we have the power to create connections like this, don’t we have the power to bring in change too?
But the real question is, how do we become ‘woke’ to bring in change?
Being ‘woke’ is not about wearing t-shirts that are labelled ‘I am a feminist’ and then doing the complete opposite of that, or only using political issues as a source of conversation with friends, nor is it about forcefully sharing ten posts a day about equality just to brand yourself as an activist.
It starts by looking within your circle of family and friends.
It starts by calling out your best friend when they use ‘stop acting gay’ as an insult,
To standing up for girls who get labelled as sluts or whores just because they’ve been in and out of relationships,
To defending boys when people say that they should ‘man up.’
To supporting your LGBT+ friend genuinely, not because you romanticise the idea of having a friend from that community,
To encouraging men and women who pursue different careers, which are not ascribed to their gender,
To helping a male family member to express their emotions freely, even if they’ve been stereotyped as ‘man of the house.’
To checking on your friend who doesn’t attend school because they feel low,
and to mainly educate yourself whenever you aren’t well-informed about issues you don’t know.
Like I said earlier, we all have the power to make a change in a small way for the better.
Why don’t we start today?
With love,
An optimistic teenager.