As I sat in my 4th period European History Class watching the presidential inauguration live on TV last month, I was overcome with a sense of admiration, pride, and hope. This sentiment was not induced only by President Barack Obama, but by the people who rose to the call of change to help get him elected – many of whom are the younger generation.
Making their voices heard, 24 million 18-29-year-olds formed 18 percent of the overall electorate this past election. Now Barack Obama is our President of the United States. Now that Obama is in office and busy with the problems plaguing our country and world, I wonder how my peers will continue to “be the change” they hoped for throughout the campaign.
As young Americans preparing to be the next leaders in the world, we should take a cue from the undertone of Obama’s new “age of responsibility.” While we hope his new administration is successful in carrying out the promises and proposed initiatives, we must also hold ourselves accountable. Our voices were heard in the election, and we should continue to use them when there is opportunity to speak up on issues.
Because we are fortunate to be citizens of a country where democracy trumps all, where opportunities abound, and where any dream has the potential of becoming a reality, we have a duty to be well-informed and involved citizens. We must continue to participate in the workings of the government, whether it be petitioning for or against a law to our local congressman or starting a grassroots movement to support an important cause.
After serving as an Obama community organizer this past summer in Orlando, Hendrix College freshman Jacob Powell now has joined the Sierra Club in a fight to prevent a new coal plant from opening near his school. He has also started a political organization to help inform people of their rights as U.S. citizens.
Obama promised exploring clean-fuel alternatives and cutting green house emissions by 80 percent by 2050. While we all hope for a cleaner country, many still have a “not in my backyard” mentality. Yet, we can spur our communities into simple but effective change by implementing recycling in our local schools, neighborhoods, and businesses. In addition, by urging people in our community to use fluorescent light bulbs, and working to make the city streets more biker-friendly so we have a zero-fuel emission transportation alternative.
The president of my school’s earth club, Becky Kivlovitz, has not only implemented school-wide recycling, but has also organized a community clean up and has started a sweeping trend of using stainless steel water bottles in lieu of plastic.
In addition to political and community activism, perhaps we can help make a dent on an individual scale. The national debt now stands at $10 trillion. We can begin to help the economic crisis and our personal economic circumstances by banking on debit and learning now that we should not spend more than we have.
Our generation should start saving and budgeting our finances with caution so when it comes time for us to start planning for our future and our children’s future, we will be more secure financially and the country will be more stable economically.
While these are a few of many outlets for our generation to translate some of the electricity that Obama has generated in the nation, our most important duty as young Americans is to take advantage of the many opportunities given to us as citizens. A senior in high school and former Obama campaigner Erin Rampy says the inauguration was like “giving me a taste of what I can achieve when I work for a common goal bigger than myself. Even though many of us helped get Obama elected, we each had different reasons. I want to continue to make a difference on things that matter, because it is a democracy, because I can.”
We should expand our cultural horizons so we can appreciate and peacefully work with other members of the global community; make the most out of our education so we can be contributing members to the workforce and help the U.S remain a vanguard in technological innovations, spread our abundance of wealth and commodities to those who need it more, and above all, we should never lose faith that we have the power to shape the future of our country and of ourselves. As Obama stated in his speech, times are changing for America, and for the world. We helped elect that change, and even as we transition into adulthood, we have the power – no – the responsibility to be that change. Our time is now.
