Friday, November 23, 2007

There is a saying ‘The opposite of love is not hate. It’s indifference.’ Personally, we think that from indifference spawns injustice, poverty & war. Take the 1994 Rwanda mass murder for example; 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the Rwanda genocide because of the ethical animosity between the Hutus and Tutsis. But where was the UN when this happened? They had no feeling of concern towards Rwanda because she is just a small, third-world country. Ergo, apathy murders.

Nowadays, the youth is seen as shallow and small-minded. Their world surrounds themselves, their friends, and MTV. They do not care about the world; albeit their hairstyle means the world to them. At least, this is how the media portrays us. We need to break the stereotype and step up. We must ask ourselves: Can we, the youth, be heroes? How?

The key answer is to get involved. Do whatever to help and contribute for the benefit of the society. Get involved in an issue you really believe in. May it be promoting gay rights, volunteering, donating to charity, or writing this very essay, we are changing people’s lives. That is the marking of a true hero: taking action and making a difference.

And yet we still can’t get our asses of the couch. Young people of the world, lend me your ears: Nothing happens when it’s all talk and no action. We need to translate our words into action! Get rid of these fatal words in your vocabulary: ‘I can’t’. That is a big lie. Prove to the world that the youth are neither insignificant nor superficial. We can make a difference. We the youth are today’s heroes and the world’s only hope.