Science, Society, Sociology.

Our future, the future of the youth of this region and generation, is preordained. We hold a tremendous amount of power that most of us are not even aware of. Do you realize that out of all of the youth in America and the world, we are the most viable and probable candidates for the ruling class of the future? We have in our hands a concentration of resources, circumstances, connection, technology, and education that has never been seen before. If our forebears could shape the world using telegraphs and steam engines, just imagine what we could do! We are the first generation to have truly grown up in the digital age, to have been raised with the entirety of mankind’s knowledge accessible at our fingertips. We are smart, resourceful, and the social circumstances have always been in our favor – we’ve grown up never having to worry about pecuniary matters, and yet were never rich enough to be snobs or brats; moreover, many of us have parents who have lived through harder times and have endowed us with their experience – experience that cost them dearly and us nothing. We have everything we need; that it, everything except for the motivation.

POWER OVERWHELMING - Like this, but not really.

All of these things have been provided for, and yet we still sit in utter passive complacency, too busy thinking about our video games and other paltry excuses in our lives to glance up at the stars or think about the problems that plague the world. When we do glance at the future, it’s provincial and shortsighted, with the scope of sight limited only to ourselves, and how we will become the exemplification of the doctor or engineer and nothing more. Well, damn you and your dreams, I say. Will you really be content to be just another pawn amongst countless others, working in your profession, punching in the hours, and yes, being excellent at whatever you do, but then dying and being forgotten immediately afterwards? Never has immortality been so close to the grasp of anyone as it is to us, and yet almost all of us have chosen the path to obscurity, deciding to contribute no more to society than as is required by our jobs, and being lost to the sands of times almost immediately after we die.

Seriously. This is every single one of you.

So think about the world. Think about all of the issues that humanity is suffering from and how they can be solved. Study, research, and learn about the past so we don’t repeat the mistakes of other generations. Keep an optimistic view, an open mind, and work towards a better future for mankind. Develop your own thoughts and stances, solve problems, and influence others. Think logically. Realize that all of the men and women who have changed the world were once where you are now, and that they shaped history with much less than we have today. Our way of life exists only due to the suffering of the less fortunate, and thus we are forever indebted to them and must constantly work to reciprocate the favor lest they resort to revolution to achieve equilibrium (Never underestimate the power of collective, mistreated, and oppressed masses). When you choose your career, by all means, follow your bliss and be a doctor or engineer if you want to, but always keep an eye on the greater role of things and always be aware of how you can change the world. We have the power, the right, and the responsibility to do so. We have the means to outshine those of the past, to surpass Napoleon, Alexander, Plato, Aristotle, Da Vinci, and all that came before us. We can do anything. We are the future.

If you tl;dr, this kitten will be sent to work in a coal mine.

P.s. If this doesn’t motivate you, consider the following. If you are part of the demographic that I’m targeting, whether you like it or not, you will most likely be part of the upper class in the future. The world is being plagued with problems right now. Look at Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya. What is happening in those areas can easily happen here. You don’t have to look far into the past to realize that if the general masses are unhappy, the upper classes are the first to topple. When that happens, the little microcosm that we know and live in will no longer be a refuge or even exist. Thus, our well-being depends on the well-being of the common man, and ergo, in order for us to survive and prevent a (justified) revolution which would result in our own extinction, we need to solve the world’s problems.