As a 17 year old I live in two worlds, one is the one that everyone expects me to have, the universal teenage experience. The other is one that is harder to explain, but it’s one of unprecedented events, one with thoughts and feelings that aren’t expected as a teenager.
A couple of the many things I do as a 17 year old that are expected: I have a driver’s license and I drive myself around. I drive my friends. We blast music with the windows down like no else exists. We stay out late, go to parks at midnight. We go to places meant for little kids, hanging on to that last thread of childhood. We gossip and laugh just as hard as when we were 6. I dip my toe into the workforce seeing a glimpse of what adulthood is like. I dream of what I could be, I explore possible careers and colleges. I study for exams and tests to keep my GPA up. I find my own interest and join clubs and activities. I find who I am as a person through trials and tribulations. I doom scroll the internet as I am a teen in an ever changing and expanding technological world. I do the things that are expected of me as a teenager.
As a 17 year old I am also fighting for my rights which is a fight that has been fought before, we just can’t seem to get the messages. If you don’t believe me here are some years that citizens of the U.S has fought for our rights:
▪︎1865 abolishing slavery or the 13 amendment
▪︎1868 the right for equal protection under the law also known as the 14th amendment,
▪︎1870 and 1920 the right for all citizens to vote or the 15th and 19th amendment
▪︎1972 the equal rights amendment
▪︎1973 women’s right to abortion, which has been denied once again.
Shall I keep going?
▪︎1954 to stop segregation in schools,
▪︎1955 through 1965 movement for equal rights for people of color, like Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott, walk on Washington, and the civil right act.
To continue the list, 2020 the black lives matter movement, and there’s been so many more. I haven’t even touched LGBTIA movements or smaller protests. I encourage people to research these dates.
The point is I am having to argue to people what being American means. I went to a protest yesterday to try and scream and get people to notice the injustice happening in my world. I am proud of how many people showed up. It was amazing to see us unite under a cause. But I was disappointed when I and so many others posted about this protest and other posts pointing to the problems, and have been hit with negative outbursts. I feel like as a teenager I have to educate fully grown adults the difference between right and wrong.
I cry at night because of the fear and anger I have towards the things happening around me. When my friends talk about the world around us, as the next generation going into the workforce and becoming adults the phrase most said is “we are screwed”. As a 17 year old I shouldn’t have to fear the world around me. I shouldn’t have to worry about my neighbors or fear voicing an opinion. I lived through a global pandemic which is no one’s fault but it adds to the point I am trying to make. It adds to the list of things a teenager shouldn’t go through. To add even more I shouldn’t have grown up with school shooting drills or how to be safe being a woman in this world. If my point hasn’t been clear already, I am a teenager going through so much more than what I should and is expected. I am angry at the world around me.
As a teenager I also have hope, hope for a world that is better. One that I am proud of. As a teenager I am ready and willing to fight for that world, even with the sense of hopelessness and despair but deep down I truly believe in what Kamala said during her Campaign of “we fight, we win”. I will fight alongside her and anyone else who is willing to join. We will come together for a better future, for a better world. So I will continue to scream at the top of my lungs for change. I will continue to support protests even if it makes others uncomfortable (that is the whole point of protests) because that is what makes change happen. I will fight for change that will stay so future generations won’t have to fight the same fight.
