It has taken me awhile to decide whether or not to blog. Words can come and haunt an individual years beyond this time, but when I follow what I perceive to be appropriate-dare I say true- I will be happy. I have the pleasure of being a young man trying to begin his life in the United States of America. I was twelve when 9/11 took place, and can remember my childhood in the 90s. Looking back now, I believe those may have been the good years (though were they really?).
It is interesting to learn and to have lived through what has come to pass since 2000. What hopes and dreams we Westerners had for this century. Yet, this has not been a pleasure trip through the 21st Century. Wars, death, starvation, disease, fear, and sometimes a little happiness have been a part of the human existence well back to the beginning of recorded history. Though in this decade and two years life has changed. Life has changed in big ways and in small ways. Everyone in America and globally have felt the pains of a decadent civilization. What will come as we travel/wander through the 21st Century remains hidden behind a veil.
What is becoming increasingly evident is that the young will be burdened or crushed in the 21st Century. Maybe it is simply an apocalyptic idea or doom-saying, but the younger men and women will have to climb an Everest of debt, destruction, disease, and lost dreams. We have to chisel out for ourselves something akin to building life after or during the fall of an empire. We may not fall (the U.S. and Western ideals) as a global influence, but what the U.S. and Western powers were compared to what they are today is shocking and somewhat depressing. When was the last time the U.S. went to war and actually won what it dreamed of achieving? (Further, why do we have to go to war?) It is the young who die on the battlefields, the ones who do the menial jobs though they are trained for higher levels, and it is the young who will live long after their parents and politicians of this time. What type of world and country are the youths of America and globally inheriting? Will this be another bloody century? Has the U.S. ever been at peace? What is this concept of peace and prosperity? Are they just dreams of foolish intellectuals and idealistic youths? I do not think they are, but when the world has determined to divide itself between the right and wrong, the good and bad, the hypocrites and the pious, the saved and damned, the loved and hated, the accepted and rejected. When we allow a world of this modernity or of this Cold War mentality to exist. We are headed for more bloodshed, rapes, and economic and environmental disasters.
Those who were teens and a little younger during 9/11/2001 have grown-up in an age of strict militarism, strife, poverty, and debt. An age where the most powerful have become the must humble and frankly never in history has a powerful people or empire fallen silently. Remember the great British Empire what helped to end that empire is complex, but taking just a few facts: the experience of the bloody World War II and coupled with the faltering of colonialism due to lack of funds and power, and the arising of United States and the Soviet Union that empire fell after the bloodiest conflict in human history. This only took place less than 75 years ago. Yes, that may seem like many years to most Westerners but in the total picture it is but drop of dew from the tree of life.
We have many problems. These are global problems, but also there are domestic problems. The U.S. and the rest of the world face many crossroads in this century. Yet, those who are making decisions today will influence not just their short-term existence, but the long-term existence of the youths around the world. We who are young today will age. It is just one of those principles of life. We live, we strive to live, we seek happiness, and then having attained what we have those young men/women turn old and one day we will all cease existing. Our problems are not simple, and simplistic answers to these problems do not suffice. No longer are the youths willing to listen to the fables of politicians, and the redundant or misleading reasoning of failed systems.
Since the old refuse to lead in this century. It has fallen to the youth, for it will become ours to govern in 20 years or earlier. How will we shape this world and century? We live now and will live later, and we must not only treasure our rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We must fight in word and deed to change this world. It is within our means, but there is a problem. We have to become connected, informed, and educated. We must better ourselves and the world. The youth can solve these problems, and their will be sacrifices. Yet, it will be ours to decide how we live and how we shape this century. We must try. We must work together or the alternatives. These alternatives will make the 20th Century seem trivial, and those human sacrifices meaningless. History can teach us what will come if we choose these alternatives. I hope we will see the uselessness of the alternatives and choose to make a brighter future. This future will be ours whether its sustainable or not will remain for debate.
It is interesting to learn and to have lived through what has come to pass since 2000. What hopes and dreams we Westerners had for this century. Yet, this has not been a pleasure trip through the 21st Century. Wars, death, starvation, disease, fear, and sometimes a little happiness have been a part of the human existence well back to the beginning of recorded history. Though in this decade and two years life has changed. Life has changed in big ways and in small ways. Everyone in America and globally have felt the pains of a decadent civilization. What will come as we travel/wander through the 21st Century remains hidden behind a veil.
What is becoming increasingly evident is that the young will be burdened or crushed in the 21st Century. Maybe it is simply an apocalyptic idea or doom-saying, but the younger men and women will have to climb an Everest of debt, destruction, disease, and lost dreams. We have to chisel out for ourselves something akin to building life after or during the fall of an empire. We may not fall (the U.S. and Western ideals) as a global influence, but what the U.S. and Western powers were compared to what they are today is shocking and somewhat depressing. When was the last time the U.S. went to war and actually won what it dreamed of achieving? (Further, why do we have to go to war?) It is the young who die on the battlefields, the ones who do the menial jobs though they are trained for higher levels, and it is the young who will live long after their parents and politicians of this time. What type of world and country are the youths of America and globally inheriting? Will this be another bloody century? Has the U.S. ever been at peace? What is this concept of peace and prosperity? Are they just dreams of foolish intellectuals and idealistic youths? I do not think they are, but when the world has determined to divide itself between the right and wrong, the good and bad, the hypocrites and the pious, the saved and damned, the loved and hated, the accepted and rejected. When we allow a world of this modernity or of this Cold War mentality to exist. We are headed for more bloodshed, rapes, and economic and environmental disasters.
Those who were teens and a little younger during 9/11/2001 have grown-up in an age of strict militarism, strife, poverty, and debt. An age where the most powerful have become the must humble and frankly never in history has a powerful people or empire fallen silently. Remember the great British Empire what helped to end that empire is complex, but taking just a few facts: the experience of the bloody World War II and coupled with the faltering of colonialism due to lack of funds and power, and the arising of United States and the Soviet Union that empire fell after the bloodiest conflict in human history. This only took place less than 75 years ago. Yes, that may seem like many years to most Westerners but in the total picture it is but drop of dew from the tree of life.
We have many problems. These are global problems, but also there are domestic problems. The U.S. and the rest of the world face many crossroads in this century. Yet, those who are making decisions today will influence not just their short-term existence, but the long-term existence of the youths around the world. We who are young today will age. It is just one of those principles of life. We live, we strive to live, we seek happiness, and then having attained what we have those young men/women turn old and one day we will all cease existing. Our problems are not simple, and simplistic answers to these problems do not suffice. No longer are the youths willing to listen to the fables of politicians, and the redundant or misleading reasoning of failed systems.
Since the old refuse to lead in this century. It has fallen to the youth, for it will become ours to govern in 20 years or earlier. How will we shape this world and century? We live now and will live later, and we must not only treasure our rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. We must fight in word and deed to change this world. It is within our means, but there is a problem. We have to become connected, informed, and educated. We must better ourselves and the world. The youth can solve these problems, and their will be sacrifices. Yet, it will be ours to decide how we live and how we shape this century. We must try. We must work together or the alternatives. These alternatives will make the 20th Century seem trivial, and those human sacrifices meaningless. History can teach us what will come if we choose these alternatives. I hope we will see the uselessness of the alternatives and choose to make a brighter future. This future will be ours whether its sustainable or not will remain for debate.
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