If anyone had said forty years ago that young people would be running the world, they would probably have received a snicker or two. Even today, ask the old timers what they think about the youth. The first answers you’re likely to get are going to be long lists stating in detail how the Millennials are doing this or that, and most of it negative. The reason for this is that Millennials, like most generations of their time, have their own way of doing things. The car you drove to work forty years ago is not the same one your granddaughter is using. The music and the food aren’t the same either. And amid all these changes is another caste that has come up. You can call them the revolutionary young.
A few examples
Saying that some youth have become innovative does not mean that they are the first ones ever to do so. If you look at history books and read widely, you’ll notice that some of the greatest people of their times started their work when they were young. Great poets were famous by the time they were teenagers and artists were selling their paintings by age sixteen. The modern youth are just catching up to those eras.
Young people are dominating every sector in the global economy despite their age or maybe because of it. Look at the business sector. How many entrepreneurs do you notice under the age of forty? These days the average age when people run their own companies is no longer when they are in their mid-thirties, it’s when they are in their mid-twenties. Individuals as young as fifteen are taking over the center business stage. One such individual is a US entrepreneur who owns the home-made goods product line Mo’s Bows. Mo’s Bows is a Memphis-based startup based that sells handmade bowties in various retailing outlets all over the country. The company is worth millions at the moment, and its CEO is fifteen-year-old Moziah Bridges.
You’ve got to hand it to the youngsters; they know how to take over on every plane. Now take a look at politics. Last Sunday, the French made history. After months of political slingshots and vigorous campaigns, the French took to their booths and elected a candidate. And not just any candidate but thirty-nine-year-old Emmanuel Macron, the youngest president in power at the moment. Macron was an investment banker with no definite political affiliations before he ran for office. After being sworn in, Macron became the youngest French president to have ever been elected. Macron is well-liked, and many people even consider his grasp of global matters mature. The election of Macron into office shows yet another boundary that young people have transcended. In future, you may begin hearing of thirty or twenty-something-year-olds governing superpowers. With Macron’s appointment, however, comes the ultimate question. Can young people hack it in such demanding environments? That’s something you will just have to wait and see.
Young people are not being left out of fields like science and technology either. This week an eighteen-year-old Mexican teen knocked down all his older competitors to win the prestigious Global Student Entrepreneurship Award. Julian Rios became the first person to invent a bra that can detect cancer. In the past only mastectomy bras were available, and these don’t prevent breast cancer; they support breasts once the tumor has been detected. Rios’ mother had lost both her breasts to cancer. He said that that had been his motivation for his creation, to make sure fewer women went through what his mother had. His invention will have a great impact in the scientific community. Women will soon be able to prevent breast cancer from going into its more fatal stages by detecting the tumors early.
A similar case happened when a European teen corrected NASA a few months back. The world’s foremost authority had come up with an incorrect hypothesis, and it took a teenager to figure that all out. It can’t get any more revolutionary than that.
Moving Forward
You would think that the youth would be respected with all these great achievements. But if you listen to current events you’ll note that what the media and others project about the millennial society are all the negatives. Why not give them the recognition they deserve?
Here you’ve got a teenager revolutionizing medicine. Why not nurture that talent so that it discovers the cure to all cancer? Moziah Bridges is very young to be running the empire that he has built. The elder people in his life should, therefore, give him the guidance and financial advice that he will need moving forward.
The newly elected French president should be given a chance to realize his vision for his people before the critics set in. They can correct him if need be, but give him a little encouragement now and then. Young people with the intellectual talent should be mentored and given direction so that they realize their potential.
Finally, older generations can learn a few things from the newer generation, one of them inclusion. Some beliefs that have been passed down from one generation to the next can be stopped by this new generation, especially if their predecessors learn from them. One instance where this applies is in attitudes like Islamophobia. In early May a young American girl started a campaign that will hopefully reduce the attitude. The young Muslim girl invited strangers to dine in her family’s home so that others could realize they did not have to fear all Muslims. Her initiative encourages the inclusion of everyone in society that is discriminated against. Imagine if older generations took up an attitude of inclusion like this girl. There would be less fear of Islam and ultimately less radicalization because Muslims would not feel threatened.
Young people, like their elders, make good and bad choices. They do things that have positive and negative consequences. For the world to move forward, the youth have to be guided to go the right way. The older generation could also pick up a thing or two from their younger counterparts.
