Best of Week: My voice won't be heard. . .yet

"What matters to you most? If you were an adult. . .", a teacher of mine started to say.
"Well", I thought to myself "why does my opinion not matter now"?

This week in class, we've been discussing the upcoming election, and what truly matters to us most. What are the core issues that will affect our voting; will we we choose to align ourselves with a political party? All of these questions get thrown out so easily, and for good reason--we're talking about "the future".

This ominous term tends to terrify me, mostly because at my age, I really have no say. As a Jewish girl who became a Bat Mitzvah, I am deemed an adult. I now have the responsibility to pray with the adults, yet am still expected to play with the kids. Similarly in politics, I am caught in a relatively uncomfortable position. Society is telling me that I am "the new generation", yet I'm given none of the trust or responsibility. I am expected to care about the changes going on around me and to take ownership of what "my generation" is doing to "our country". 

In our country, people with money are valued. Scholars and those who are educated are valued. I am in honors classes in an upper middle class society, but I am not a pre-law student, nor am I in college. I can't tell you what the headline in the business section was this morning, but I can tell you how I think this country can move forward. I can tell you what I want my world to look like. I am the new generation, and yet I am constantly feeling suffocated by society. No matter how many letters I write to my congressman, I know that the response I get is from his secretary. I have been taught time and time again that my voice at my age simply does not matter.

A long time ago, my voice was stolen. A long time ago, people decided that I don't deserve the right to speak up, based on my religion, gender and simply my age. Today, you may not hear more than a brush stroke. Tomorrow? You'll hear an explosion of color as I paint the world I will be living in--it's MY world now.

Carry it Forward: Healing of America

As we began discussing Healing of America by T.R. Reid, I couldn't help but feel a strong connection to the prominent underlying theme: problems--large or small--can be solved if people simply cared.

T.R. Reid tells his audience that nearly every successful healthcare model/system works because the people running the healthcare system care more about the well being of the people that they're serving than they do about their own bottom line. As I was reading this book, it was easy for me to think back to times when I, like America's healthcare system, had put my own personal needs miles before the needs of the people around me. I also was able to connect to times when I was like Japan's healthcare system, for instance, and I put the needs of others before myself, yet my needs were still met.

Unfortunately, I feel that people these days just don't seem as genuinely concerned about the well being of others as they do about themselves. Sure, you could argue that you'd do anything to protect your family, but when it comes down to it, our generation has proven time and time again that we'll throw anyone under a bus if there's even a hint that we could get mildly hurt. 

Caring for and about people is just something that's a part of me. My religion teaches me to care for and about others, but not at the risk of hurting myself. Though the groundwork had already been laid by my religion and the teaching of my parents, Healing of America has built a permanent reminder in my mind to think before I speak, and when I listen, to listen with both open ears and an open mind. I know the whole theme of "caring" can seem quite juvenile and basic (which it is), but the bottom line is that we wouldn't need to re-teach something if people had learned it the first time around. 

Not all problems can be solved with an open mind and heart (A.K.A. caring), but I know for a fact that there would be less conflict and more problems would be prevented if people simply cared. Caring about others is a tough task, and caring about yourself can be equally as tough if not more so. This is a lesson we learned so many years ago, so now let's follow the same logic that we were taught so many years ago: think before you speak, love before you hate and learn that which you do not know or understand.