Why What We Have Is Not Lost
There is always hope.
“From underneath the rubble sing a rebel song, don’t want to see another generation drop,” Coldplay’s lyrics reverberate to a generation that has seldom witnessed great prosperity, but is now enduring a tumultuous time. It is inarguable that the record numbers of young people struggling to find work, leave the safety of their parents’ homes, and begin their own families is an immediate cause of the ‘Great Recession.’ In some regions, the youth unemployment rate is double that of the national rate. The concern remains whether the recession will ever truly emancipate the youth it has held captive. Coincidentally, the EU’s youth too have suffered vast unemployment and an inability to see hope in the face of stark adversity.
Accepting The Status Quo
It is true that recent years have been overwhelmed by uncertainty and unprecedented destruction. Dire circumstances have arisen, and the young have felt a visceral connection to the surrounding devastation. While they have been told to accept the status quo, to be educated and impassioned only to struggle to build the lives they have worked tirelessly to create, protestors from Tahrir Square to Syntagma Square to Zuccotti Park have been the loudest and most pivotal voices of recent times.
Those who have been deemed lost have found the courage to be valiant beacons of change. The lost generation has fought for the most basic human rights, for the mere opportunity to carry out their lives simply and without fear of an unwelcoming future. Activists and crusaders have joined in solidarity, echoing their grievances. Some have given up their very lives for the possibility to see even a modicum of their heroic efforts prevail against unequal systems.
We owe it to the youth in every corner of the world challenging complacency and to the prospect of a prosperous future, to internalize and understand these movements as the heart of a global transformation. If we have faith that the future, regardless of inevitable obstacles, is full of hope, and recognize the collective power to ignite change, our utmost desires will become realities. Protestors throughout the world have substantiated that potential and made hope all the more palpable. Ours is not a lost generation, but a generation with purpose, with conviction. “Every siren is a symphony,” Coldplay echoes to millions of youthful hearts throughout the world. The course of fate is not predetermined for Generation Y, and the young have proven that theirs will not be lost.
