This essay by Jared Zabel is an entry in the L.A. Youth essay contest
Even the future will be the present someday. It’s never too early to start planning, something that’s true for people, businesses and even countries. Ten years from today, I’ll be in my twenties and – based on the way the world looks as we start 2009 – it will be the time to be alive and making a difference. I can’t wait.
In a world running out of oil, food, money and even fresh drinking water, there is one precious resource that may soon be more abundant than any time before in human history – hope. Barack Obama just got elected president of the United States by talking about this resource. He inspired millions to start thinking that tomorrow – no matter what our problems may be – can actually be better than today.
President Obama is on to something big here. If enough people believe they can make a difference, they can become a force for change that will spread throughout their lives, their homes, and across every border on the planet. If, as Gandhi said, we all need to “be the change you wish to see in the world,” then it’s time to get started.
A decade from now, as a 27-year-old man, I’ll have voted in five national elections, and started a career, family and lifestyle that all come from the world we are creating now. In that world of tomorrow, we can expect to see change already happening. My car may run on energy created here in the United States. With less pressure to get oil from the Middle East, even peace may be breaking out there ending an ancient brooding hatred. The world economy will be strengthening and more people will be able to enjoy Jefferson’s “pursuit of happiness.”
It’s easy to dismiss this vision of the future as the wishful thinking of one man. After all, aside from the Gandhis, Kings and even Obamas who have been the exceptions, the world is so large, complicated and troubled that it dwarfs the efforts of the average man. How can anybody – especially a suburban teenager who just got his driver’s license – know what needs to be done and actually do it?
“You may say I’m a dreamer,” sang John Lennon, “but I’m not the only one.”
