We're slackers. We're apathetic. We're lazy. We have short attention spans. We are what is wrong with America. As we move from one milestone to another we have two choices: we can live up to our reputation as a lazy, apathetic generation of people focused on money or we can prove these labels false. As Tufts graduates we must stop listening to those who say that we are the leaders of tomorrow and instead assert ourselves as the leaders of today.
In this newspaper, I have continually railed against political leaders such as our Congressman Mike Capuano who do not care about the needs of students. Too often our leaders have let us down in their roles as representatives of all of their constituents. I have repeatedly called on them to shape up or ship out.
Not surprisingly, though, none of them have answered the call. Mike Capuano has continued in his anti-democratic ways by ignoring us and as a reward he will be elected to another two-year term this November because he has no real opposition.
After the Civil War, the 4-H Club was founded in order to reform the way that farming was done in this country. However, the group found that farmers were too entrenched in the old, outdated system and were unwilling to change their ways. So the founders of the club decided to focus on the next generation of farmers in order to reform the farming system for the future.
Politics today is very similar. Most politicians are ruled by an old outdated, system that gives preference to the voice of the powerful over the voice of the people and have incessantly ignored the cries that democracy is being corrupted by their practices. Now it is time for us as leaders to show the world that we have a new approach to politics and that we can and will lead our nation. We can and will show the Mike Capuanos of the world that we are not too young to assert ourselves as political leaders and their time is up.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy inspired a generation of young people to seek to change society. In 1966, Kennedy reminded a crowd at the University of Capetown in South Africa that "a young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and a 32-year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal."
Martin Luther King Jr. was only 26 at the start of the Montgomery bus boycott that helped bring national attention to the burgeoning civil rights movement. Dr. King was 34 when he called upon his generation to rise up and live out the true meaning of the revolutionary words spoken by a young Jefferson.
The great thing about America is that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to make a difference. Rosa Parks was one woman who just sat down on a bus but this small action has forever changed history. Democracy is great because every individual has the power to sit down on a bus, make a difference, and change history.
The last four years we have shown that we are ready to take our seat at the table. From marching on Ballou to taking over Bendetson to volunteering in the community we have shown that we are not the slackers that are so often portrayed in the media.
We are not of Generation X but rather a new brand of super citizens who will rebuild our broken democracy. We might as well start right now.
