[Applause]
it’s 2018 and there are so many people
who are just drifting through life lost
in the distractions of our fast-paced
technological world wasting their chance
to use their voices to make a change why
because it’s really hard to stand up to
what’s wrong and it’s very easy to
accept it to turn away and hide when we
aren’t the ones being directly affected
we live in a country of safety and
prosperity we’re messy politics doesn’t
result in tragic consequences
that’s confined to countries overseas or
at our borders when we turn on the TV is
to see yet another casualty count we
aren’t experiencing the effects
firsthand of war and persecution like
those in Syria and Mayan Mar we aren’t
targets of violence and hate we aren’t
starving or wounded or dying and our
children still go to school in relative
safety we’re sitting in what compares is
absolute luxury in warm houses with an
abundance of food and every creature
comfort imaginable where we get the
watered-down version of the day’s events
and the plight of mistreated Grace’s our
screens for a few hours before being
swept away and forgotten about in the
cacophony of information we receive we
get snippets of violence shoved between
celebrity gossip death counts followed
by the newest iPhone release enough
truth to make us uncomfortable to coax a
few tears out of dry eyes and strike a
chord in our hearts but enough
distraction that we can hide behind so
that we can refrain from acting on the
hurt we feel because we live in an era
where we don’t really define a feeling
we throw around words like love and hate
without realizing the depths of these
emotions and honestly who can blame us
we’re tangled up in social media we’re
like sand
drive our self-esteem we use Tumblr
posts to describe what we’re feeling we
sub tweet and cyberbully because the
idea of confronting someone face to face
is panic inducing and it’s so so easy to
hide behind a screen behind a username
we spend more time on the internet than
with our families we debate fake news
more than politics a president’s Twitter
account more than international crises
and celebrity children’s names and
clothing more than the plight of
millions of starving children worldwide
you’re sleepwalking through life
complacent in comfort deaf to despair
we’re sleepwalking and we need to wake
up change begins with us with our
generation and you’ve all heard it
before from parents and teachers and
youth speakers but it’s finally time
that we start believing it we need to
stand up to voice how we feel to put a
name and a face to our words we can no
longer be afraid of emotion we have to
embrace anger anger at injustice to
grieve loss at senseless death to be
broken long enough to feel each other’s
anguish to truly empathize we can’t let
that hopelessness lead our actions we
must revel in the good as well we have
to feel happy and powerful and connected
to one another we have to embrace the
strength that comes with empathy and to
break out of the stagnant lives we’re
living in to unite make a difference
there’s so many powerful examples of
young people changing the world at 12
years of age Craig Kielburger and a few
of his classmates took up a dream that
they grew into a worldwide movement
known as me – II at 15 a young Pakistani
girl stood up for her genders rights to
education in an oppressive political
climate today she’s known as Malala
yousafzai a author
public speaker and Nobel prize-winner
who best embodies this call to action
who can we look to as a pioneer of youth
and action but our very own Terry Fox
who at the age of 21 decided to run
across Canada one agonizing step at a
time all in the hopes of finding a cure
for cancer see each of these causes
started with one teenager and one dream
backed by a steely determination to
accomplish their goal and these are just
the well known ones there are millions
millions thousands more if you choose to
look just last month
children and students all across the
United States rose up to speak out
against gun violence and within two
weeks of that they effected change when
Governor Phil Scott changed the laws of
the state of Vermont to reflect greater
gun control so don’t be afraid of
speaking out because the truth is that
adults govern for today but youth are
the powerhouse of tomorrow governments
are afraid of change they want to keep
running the world the same way it’s been
run for generations they’re comfortable
with their power and uncomfortable with
the unknown and they fear us because we
can be that change you’re at the first
generation of young people who want
change who want revolution we’re the
first ones who finally have all the
tools to do it we have the world in our
pockets the internet at our fingertips
with history to learn from and social
media as a platform for ideas we can
accomplish anything we set our minds to
so some adults try to silence us to keep
us down they tell us your children not
equals that we’re too young too naive
and inexperienced and that when we have
seen and done and learned all that they
have learned then we may finally speak
but the thing is no amount of education
or age or experience
can immediately qualify one person to be
more important than another or for the
voice of an adult to have more power
than a voice of a teenager
we need youth to bring a new voice to
the global conversation because we’re
growing up in a world where stigmas and
stereotypes are being broken down where
we talk openly about racism and sexism
and mental health where we’re learning
the importance of speaking up for those
who don’t have a voice for those who
have been silenced
we need youth because we may be young
but we are strong we are compassionate
and we long for a better world so don’t
be discouraged that adults hold the
power our words have power our actions
have power and together we cannot be
ignored so put down your virtual battle
weapons arm yourselves with words ideas
and political convictions and take up a
real fight because we are the youth that
can create tomorrow so what will you
choose [Applause]
it’s 2018 and there are so many people
who are just drifting through life lost
in the distractions of our fast-paced
technological world wasting their chance
to use their voices to make a change why
because it’s really hard to stand up to
what’s wrong and it’s very easy to
accept it to turn away and hide when we
aren’t the ones being directly affected
we live in a country of safety and
prosperity we’re messy politics doesn’t
result in tragic consequences
that’s confined to countries overseas or
at our borders when we turn on the TV is
to see yet another casualty count we
aren’t experiencing the effects
firsthand of war and persecution like
those in Syria and Mayan Mar we aren’t
targets of violence and hate we aren’t
starving or wounded or dying and our
children still go to school in relative
safety we’re sitting in what compares is
absolute luxury in warm houses with an
abundance of food and every creature
comfort imaginable where we get the
watered-down version of the day’s events
and the plight of mistreated Grace’s our
screens for a few hours before being
swept away and forgotten about in the
cacophony of information we receive we
get snippets of violence shoved between
celebrity gossip death counts followed
by the newest iPhone release enough
truth to make us uncomfortable to coax a
few tears out of dry eyes and strike a
chord in our hearts but enough
distraction that we can hide behind so
that we can refrain from acting on the
hurt we feel because we live in an era
where we don’t really define a feeling
we throw around words like love and hate
without realizing the depths of these
emotions and honestly who can blame us
we’re tangled up in social media we’re
like sand
drive our self-esteem we use Tumblr
posts to describe what we’re feeling we
sub tweet and cyberbully because the
idea of confronting someone face to face
is panic inducing and it’s so so easy to
hide behind a screen behind a username
we spend more time on the internet than
with our families we debate fake news
more than politics a president’s Twitter
account more than international crises
and celebrity children’s names and
clothing more than the plight of
millions of starving children worldwide
you’re sleepwalking through life
complacent in comfort deaf to despair
we’re sleepwalking and we need to wake
up change begins with us with our
generation and you’ve all heard it
before from parents and teachers and
youth speakers but it’s finally time
that we start believing it we need to
stand up to voice how we feel to put a
name and a face to our words we can no
longer be afraid of emotion we have to
embrace anger anger at injustice to
grieve loss at senseless death to be
broken long enough to feel each other’s
anguish to truly empathize we can’t let
that hopelessness lead our actions we
must revel in the good as well we have
to feel happy and powerful and connected
to one another we have to embrace the
strength that comes with empathy and to
break out of the stagnant lives we’re
living in to unite make a difference
there’s so many powerful examples of
young people changing the world at 12
years of age Craig Kielburger and a few
of his classmates took up a dream that
they grew into a worldwide movement
known as me – II at 15 a young Pakistani
girl stood up for her genders rights to
education in an oppressive political
climate today she’s known as Malala
yousafzai a author
public speaker and Nobel prize-winner
who best embodies this call to action
who can we look to as a pioneer of youth
and action but our very own Terry Fox
who at the age of 21 decided to run
across Canada one agonizing step at a
time all in the hopes of finding a cure
for cancer see each of these causes
started with one teenager and one dream
backed by a steely determination to
accomplish their goal and these are just
the well known ones there are millions
millions thousands more if you choose to
look just last month
children and students all across the
United States rose up to speak out
against gun violence and within two
weeks of that they effected change when
Governor Phil Scott changed the laws of
the state of Vermont to reflect greater
gun control so don’t be afraid of
speaking out because the truth is that
adults govern for today but youth are
the powerhouse of tomorrow governments
are afraid of change they want to keep
running the world the same way it’s been
run for generations they’re comfortable
with their power and uncomfortable with
the unknown and they fear us because we
can be that change you’re at the first
generation of young people who want
change who want revolution we’re the
first ones who finally have all the
tools to do it we have the world in our
pockets the internet at our fingertips
with history to learn from and social
media as a platform for ideas we can
accomplish anything we set our minds to
so some adults try to silence us to keep
us down they tell us your children not
equals that we’re too young too naive
and inexperienced and that when we have
seen and done and learned all that they
have learned then we may finally speak
but the thing is no amount of education
or age or experience
can immediately qualify one person to be
more important than another or for the
voice of an adult to have more power
than a voice of a teenager
we need youth to bring a new voice to
the global conversation because we’re
growing up in a world where stigmas and
stereotypes are being broken down where
we talk openly about racism and sexism
and mental health where we’re learning
the importance of speaking up for those
who don’t have a voice for those who
have been silenced
we need youth because we may be young
but we are strong we are compassionate
and we long for a better world so don’t
be discouraged that adults hold the
power our words have power our actions
have power and together we cannot be
ignored so put down your virtual battle
weapons arm yourselves with words ideas
and political convictions and take up a
real fight because we are the youth that
can create tomorrow so what will you
choose [Applause]
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