Be the change you want to see in the world. Gandhi. One of the most overused quotes of our generation, but it hasn’t lost its relevance.

We have grown up in a world filled with hatred and fear but I don’t lose hope for the future because even though our grandparents or great grandparents were called the “greatest generation”, we are the imaginative, the innovative, the “let’s get shit done” generation.

If the greatest generation would only look past our smart phones and social media they would see that we aren’t that different.

For the last four years I have attended high school everyday, like most teenagers do. I sit in class, I talk to my peers and I laugh with my friends. This doesn’t sound anything like the war that gave the greatest generation it’s name, for they were also teenagers but on a battlefield, scared for their lives and watching their friends drop like flies from the enemy’s bullets. Actually, that sounds a little familiar doesn’t it?

We are fighting a war just as important, that will label our own generation someday. Sandy Hook, Columbine, Parkland, have all taught me that stepping onto my campus is like lining up on the front lines except I am weaponless and have no idea who the enemy will be.

Graduation is coming up, and you could assume I would be able to compare leaving high school as finally being able to go home, but there is no going home from this war. This war follows us, to movie theaters, and churches, and parking lots. It thrives on the ignorance of those who would rather protect their right to own a gun than protect the children in their communities. This war has brought our country to an average of ONE school shooting A WEEK and it laughs in our faces when survivors are called “crisis actors”.

Our country’s left hand and right hand are tied together, but refuse to work with each other, rendering them both useless in helping those that need it the most. It is up to you, the children, to do something when the adults in power are too occupied throwing insults at each other to protect people. It is your responsibility to create a better society, country, planet for your children than what your parents are leaving for you. That’s a lot of pressure on you, on us, I know. But don’t let the pressure stop you. The older generations are already trying to keep our mouths shut and our heads down. We cannot give up. We cannot give in. Be the change you want to see in the world.