“The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible, and achieve it, generation after generation. “
-- Pearl S. Buck

The youth have a power that no other generation has. They have the power to change the world. Many chapters in the world have been changed by the youth. Remember rock and roll? Disco? Not to mention swallowing goldfish whole. Yes I do admit that a few old people have done great things but weren’t all of those old people young at one time?

When people are young they are new to the world and have a fresh take on things so they are not constantly being influenced by the older generation. Remember when everyone knew that the world was flat and everyone knew that white people were better than colored people? If it weren’t for fresh new ideas then we would still be using the old standards. Imagine if Benjamin Franklin had listened to all of the people who were telling him he was wasting time on silly experiments, such as discovering that lightning had an electric current, or if Columbus had stopped trying to find a new way to India after asking the rulers of Spain for a ship? Without youth where would we be today?

Amazing things have been done by youth. Did you know that Bill Gates was only 20 when he and Paul Allen founded Microsoft? Or that Oprah Winfrey was only 29 when she hosted her first talk show? Some of the most important people in our society were once looked at as fools for thinking they could change the world but somehow they manage to do it every generation, like Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey.

Have you heard the story The Little Engine that Could? Remember how he was a small little train and he had to pull the rest of the trains up and over the hill? Remember how all the older “wiser” trains made fun of him? That was because the train had a dream and he wouldn’t let anyone tell him that he couldn’t achieve it. Another one of my favorite stories is about Louis Pasteur. Louis Pasture was a scientist. He created the vaccine for rabies. Everyone told him that he couldn’t do it but he ended up saving hundreds of lives.

Many people have been young and still been able to save the world. The youth have the power to change the world. Even though it seems scary to think of it this way, the future is in the hands of the young people.

“We must view young people not as empty bottles to be filled but as candles to be lit”
--Robert Shafer