It is impressive how 2020 can still manage to qualify as one of the craziest years of my life. I know maybe my life has not been that broad, but I can assure you this year will forever remain in my memory. There is no doubt these are difficult times for humanity’s future, everyone’s lives turned upside down abruptly, and to be honest a spark of hope was created when hundreds of governments united to fight the common enemy, a disease.
Any type of change is considered scary, but as a society we managed to stay together and tackle our global challenges. Now everyone’s reality has changed again. I do not see the virus as the first enemy, the new enemy has been present for a very long time, wondering mysteriously in the shadows, the worst part is that nobody cared about its essence. The new enemy emerged from the dimmed light with strength and power, but instead of making governments unite, it made people fight for their rights. An innocent man killed for his skin color by a cop, whose job is to protect the innocent.
Everyone gathered to fight an injustice, voices of people slowly blossoming through social media. Numbers of signed petitions increasing. Pictures, hashtags, and videos going viral. They made a big mistake. They underestimated our power as a generation, social media became our biggest weapon for war against a basic human rights violation. Maybe we were scared at first, but when we realized the power the little black boxes, we carry in our pocket every single day have. We became invincible. I consider my generation to be one of the most powerful of all time, because we don’t believe everything the news tell us, we question every single argument, and we are not afraid to speak our truth in needed situations.
The infectious virus does not compare to the power of the new enemies, hate and power. There are plenty of actions being taken to fight the virus. Social distancing, washing your hands regularly, wearing masks. In recognition, cases in a variety of countries decreased and in the future a vaccine would be created eliminating this enemy once and for all.
No one is born with hate in their soul. No one is born hating another person for their skin color, gender, nationality, or sexual orientation. Two kids in a playground will enjoy their time together without any sense of animosity. The people around them are responsible for the hate that grows slowly inside them as they keep getting older and exposed to the world.
How could you fight hate? What actions need to be taken to overcome and defeat power? There is no definite answer for any of these questions, and that is where the danger of the new virus creeps in, we cannot find a quick fix, because the solution is found within. All we know is that raising our voice, speaking our ideas, fighting for our rights, protesting, and sharing information we can help our community overcome hate. The state should be a channel for correction and not an avenue for murder.
I am not scared anymore for our world’s future, because I know for a fact that our generation will not be silenced, we will fight every needed war in order to accomplish a better world where our rights are respected, where our ideas are taken seriously, where racism is no longer tolerated, where every gender is considered equal, and where virtuous lives are not at risk just for being different.
-Nelson Mandela
