In recent weeks, I find myself angrily walking down the cracked asphalt of the Mount Vernon Trail, glaring at the trash crusted Potomac, and stewing in the persistent rhythm of music playing in my ears. Walks are meant to be relaxing, but for me walks give me a chance to just be mad.
I’ve always had a sense of connection to the world around me. As my world got bigger with age, that connection grew more and more fraught, leaving me with a sense of estrangement or betrayal. How dare the world be such an awful place? Come March 2020, I was a downy chick, born anew at 12 years old to bear witness to the strangest time of my life. In April 2020, I already wanted to leave the nest.
Throughout quarantine, I spent plenty of time looking at the news, watching YouTube, messaging strangers online, and generally connecting with people outside of my own ecosystem. I developed more of a political understanding of the world than some of my peers, who were learning about politics from me by the time I was a middle schooler. This political understanding has pushed me to join Journalism and try to disseminate information, something I believe is most important in a time when it is so easy to tune everything out.
Trump has taken office in the white house for a second term. Israel continues to attack Gaza. Russia continues to attack Ukraine. Anti-LGBTQ+ legislation walks back queer people’s hard earned rights. Prices are high, college is expensive, the school system doesn’t work, and people are being imprisoned for no good reason.
Dang, I kind of want to tune everything out— but I can’t. If there is one thing I know I will regret, it’s tuning everything out.
There’s a vision that lingers in my mind when I think about how scary the world is. Despite not truly wanting a family yet, I still wonder what it would be like to be a parent. I think about what I would tell my daughter when she asks about what’s happening now. I think about how there’s no doubt that what I’m witnessing will go down in history. I think: How awful would it be to tell her, ‘I don’t know, because I didn’t look.’ What a cruel, hypocritical, insolent phrase, ‘I don’t know, because I didn’t listen. I couldn’t care.’
Even if I’m only sixteen, I have a voice. I have the chance to be heard and make an impact, and so do you. Don’t tune out the world just because it’s hard. Don’t give up on change just because it’s difficult. Don’t quit caring because it hurts. Instead, make a difference. Volunteer, write, and speak. Join up with your friends to form advocacy and service groups, attend protests like People’s Veto Day on April 5, teach others and educate yourself on the issues most important to you. Don’t tune out. Instead, get mad, stomp on asphalt, and tune in.
