It is 2025, and Michigan is beginning to finally show its first signs of winter and snow. It’s quiet in my small room, and I sit at my desk and wonder.
How has it come to this? I ask myself. Will there ever be a breaking point?
I go to school, and my friends sit on their phones, their most important concerns of the day being an APUSH test they didn’t study for. Their greatest worry, losing in Clash Royale.
I wonder, will they ever care about things that don’t affect them? The world has so many issues, and I’ve never actually noticed them until about a year ago. I used to be one of the many people who turn a blind eye to so much injustice in the world, claiming that this will stop soon. It has to. It’s not too late. Right?
It has to stop at some point. But we’ve waited far too long. We can’t neglect the problems someone else has because they don’t affect us. We need to band together, now more than ever. We need to make sure we actually care about matters that may not affect us right now. If we wait too long, everybody will be forced into watching the news and participating in politics.
I see kids hurt others by using deliberate word choice and tone. I wonder how hard it is to leave someone alone instead of being immature and disrespectful.
Right now, innocent people are pushed into fighting for basic rights that should’ve been guaranteed to them at birth. It’s not their fault that they are “annoying” for reminding you of the bad in the world. It’s not their fault that they are standing up for their community. Some choose to hide away from our reality, and some choose to give up the fight because it is too overwhelming. And overwhelming is an understatement. When the group with the most power believes something, its influence overturns morality. As long as the majority believes it, it doesn’t matter if it’s a morally bad thing to believe. People will just go along with it because it’s easier to fight the minority than to support it.
I see more and more hateful laws being passed in our country, and people being governed by how someone looks, and immediately being judged and shut down before trying to be understood.
Once again, I wonder how and why it has come to this. Something tells me everything is rooted in fear; fear of loss of values, loss of order, loss of sense. The people are worried that, if they support certain minority groups, then they will try to change the world in ways that are “out of control” and “nonsensical.” They use their fear to shape everyone into what they think is a perfect world.
I sit at my desk and hope for a better tomorrow.
Everyone is a human, and everyone wants to be understood. Unfortunately, human nature has made it so that not everyone is equal because of how they were born, because they do different things, because they like different things, or because of who they love. But it isn’t that hard to respect. Hate is taught; love is something everyone is born with. Anyone can change their ways slightly to respect the loved ones they meet every day. We all just want to be loved and included, and it is much easier to love than to go out of your way to cause harm.
I sit at my desk with a small sense of hope. I know that many people decide to spread love.
I go to school, and I see someone complimenting kids every day and putting a smile on their faces. I see someone who is seen as annoying just trying to make the day more lively. I see kids lifting each other up because it feels so good to make even one face smile, and even one day better than it would be without them.
I see everyone who puts in their effort to make someone laugh or smile. And I know that someday, if we fight for peace and equality, this kindness will be repaid, and everyone can live how they want to be lived.
