I sit and ponder a question that looms over the heads of hundreds of teenagers over the world, “Are we of importance? Can we make a difference? If we try, will anyone listen?” Or, are we the misunderstood, confused teenagers who stand for nothing, and never will. John Mayer, musician, must have had these same questions rolling through his head, because his song, Waiting on the World to Change, goes deeply into this topic.
Are we waiting around for something to happen? Do we sit here every day, watching the T.V. screen; witnessing the disastrous occurrences the world endures each and every day saying, “I hope someone does something about that?” Well, why don’t we? “One day, our generation, is gonna rule the population,” sings John Mayer. We are the future of the United States of America. A heavy load, yes, and it sounds very cliché, but I don’t know if we realize that we must step up to the challenge, we must face the music and say that our world needs help.
“Now we see everything that’s going wrong, with the world and those who lead it, we just feel like we don’t have the means, to rise above and beat it.” This is what I mean. We know, we see what is happening in Iraq, what is happening with global warming, what is happening to students at Virginia Tech, Columbia University and so many more. We think that racial discrimination has vanished, but we are so ferociously wrong. Everyday, every minute, there are racial comments made about African-Americans, Asians and prejudice comments about Jews, Catholics, endless comments. We must stop this. We must stop the fighting. We do have the ability to step up and let people know how we, the teenagers of America feel.
It may seem hard to believe, but the War in Iraq is becoming very similar to the Vietnam War. It simply seems as though people do not take the current war as seriously as we should. Hundreds of innocent people becoming wounded, or even dead, fighting for their country, and yet, I know many people who don’t even care. It seems as though the majority of teenagers don’t recognize that we are in war, they care more about how their hair looks for the current day. In the 1960’s, hundreds protested the war, and proved to the government that they needed to make a change, the majority of them being teenagers. Now, I am not saying our generation needs to come out and do that, but we do need to at least attempt to make a difference.
It displeases me to see John Mayer’s song, and what it says, but I think he makes a very strong point. He is trying to wake people up and tell them that magic is not going to fix the world, specifically the United States. Superman or Tinkerbell is not here to save the day. We keep on waiting for something, but what we are really waiting for is simply ourselves. The teenagers of America must step up, now.