A boy endlessly weeped and limped as the bombs burst in the air, which gave off a red glare to the skies. He begged for his mother to stand up from the asphalt ground, but the mother did not respond and laid there. In her arms, she clutched an wailing baby wrapped in endless fabric. As she laid there,  the asphalt gradually turned crimson red behind her back and the ear piercing gun shots became closer and closer to the boy. With tear soaked face, he knelt then unwrapped his mother’s arms, the ones that tenderly embraced him from the day he was born, and took his sister. He hugged his mother with one arm, patted her hijab, and kissed her cheek. “نني أحبك, ماما,” he whispered to her. Sounds of men and artillery approached and the boy had to leave his dead mother, never seeing her again.

The future of the world is not only the technological advances that could potentially help us travel through the galaxies or the new Iphone you might hold one day.

The destruction of Earth and humanity in the name of greed and power hungry men and women, nuclear weapons, gunshots, human trafficking, and pure ignorance is the clear step of annihilation of the future. As we sit here idly with our ears and eyes closed and our backs turned away from the truth, the corrupted adults are devoiding our brothers and sisters their rights and lives.

The future is us.

We, the children of this generation and the endless other generations, are the future of humanity.

It is not only us privilege children that is the future; we sit in a classroom having the opportunity to have the proper education and have the basic necessities like security and food that we take for granted. We involve ourselves in community service that yes, could help a charity or a targeted subject, but in turn procure hours and write in our college resumes that we accomplished and done a noble cause to appeal prestigious, expensive universities. Fear not and do not feel guilty, for we should take advantage and be grateful to have the chance and ability to control each of our individual future and have a choice. But with our own education and passion, we should lend our hand to our brothers and sisters that do not have these luxuries.

The future is us.

The future includes but are not limited to the poverty stricken children that beg for a coin in the streets of Africa, the kidnapped and sexually abused young girls and boys that are stripped away from their family and innocence, the victims of gun violence, the ISIS child soldiers that are brutally trained to murder, and every marginalized, delicate children who experienced revolting atrocities happen to them and to the people they love. Unlike ignorant authorities and adults, we must not ignore young victims of rampant hate crime and bullying committed against them based on their gender, identity, race, class, and religion that could happen in the streets or in their very own school. We must not forget about the children that die on their seventh birthday because of a deadly disease or virus that could have been prevented through vaccination and health care. The homeless children that are affected by natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoon are without a choice, are forced out of their homes with their families with little resources.

Amongst us, youth across our country experience mental health issues and the throat constricting pressure of succeeding and fitting into the norm. I see peers inhaling chemicals in their fragile lungs under the notion of “it’s harmless, there’s no nicotine or tobacco in it” just to be a puzzle piece into the enigma of conformity. The alcoholic parties that some teenagers attend every weekend are making its way to their livers and meddling with our anatomically young brain. The endless pointing fingers and laughing at someone when they are different and seem odd to them drives the said person into insecurity, heartbreaking isolation, and deterioration of their self worth under the illusion of their peers’ opinion. There is still an ongoing, superficial battle of our own looks and the problem of placing high importance of aligning our looks to our ability to make friends and attract people is still prevalent today.

There are many more dysfunctional that we ourselves face but I digress.

We must mourn for unfortunate children that experience such tragedies and acknowledge their silent, breathless scream for help. We, as also the future of United States and the world, should come together and be their voice.

We must face our toxic teenage culture in United States and our schools to prevent destroying each other and ourselves.

Let their voice and our voice roar and oscillate through the ears of our parents, government, countries, and charities and demand our rights and voice to be validated. Let us stand together and uplift each other to make the future brighter for us and to our future children.

   It is not the adults right now that will change the world in the upcoming years.

 It is up to us to stand up and let our voice be heard to them.

         THE FUTURE IS US.