A Take on Teens

Teens are probably the most underrated group of people in the world as of 2020. We are belittled and discarded, even as thoughtful, intelligent people, despite that this is probably the peak of our life because we have our own opinions. Alas, adults (and the infamous “Boomer” generation) forget about how teens have shaped the world for them. So, they ignore us, and we are left to pick up the scraps of global warming, the bans and legislations placed upon certain groups of people, and plastic pollution—amongst other things.

However, teens have done things that “Boomers” can not deny are important to our world. For example, Louis Braille, a fifteen year old from the early 1800’s, invented the way blind people read today: Braille. In 1951, Barbara Johns, a 16-year old from Farmville, Virginia, held a student strike at her segregated school. Her actions called forth National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to defend her in court and demand equality. And how could we forget 17 year old Malala Yousafzai, who, in 2014, became the youngest receiver of the Nobel Peace Prize after speaking out against the Taliban, asking girls to seek education, and getting shot in the head. Or how Emma González, 18, survivor of the shooting in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, co-founded the gun-control activist group Never Again MSD. The list goes on and on, from B.C.E to today.

The stress of the future bears down on us, though. Even as I was researching to validate my opinion in this very piece, I see website after website talking about death rates—suicide rates—in teens. They are perplexed. Dr. Richard A. Friedman, a psychiatrist, wrote an article in the New York Times that explains that same perplexed “Huh?!”:

“How is it possible that so many of our young people are suffering from depression and killing themselves when we know perfectly well how to treat this illness? If thousands of teens were dying from a new infectious disease or a heart ailment, there would be a public outcry and a national call to action.”

Why? It differs from teen to teen, but in my personal experience, teens are afraid of the future. That is the overlying thought. If the price of college is too high, what is the point? If the world is just going to nuke itself into an apocalypse, why should we be learning how to spell “Doctrine”? If the LGBT+ youth get sent to, for the lack of a more accurate term, “Gay Concentration Camp”, why not just end it now?

Let us take control. Even if it is for a day. See how many young people go to city halls or state capitals and start talking about the future. A pristine example is from the New York Times again, this time Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks writes about the teenage creators of Zero Hour, “an environmentally focused, creatively minded and technologically savvy nationwide coalition — are trying to build a youth-led movement to sound the alarm and call for action on climate change and environmental justice.”

So, what’s my unpopular opinion? That teens should have a say in matters that will effect us in the future. A perfect example comes from Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks article in the New York Times:

‘“In our generation when we talk about climate change, they’re like: ‘Ha ha, that’s so funny. It’s not something we’ll have to deal with,’” said Nadia Nazar, Zero Hour’s art director. “‘Oh, yeah, the polar bears will just die, the seas will just rise.’ They don’t understand the actual caliber of the destruction.”’