I remember when I was in my younger teen years, I declared that I was not going to register to vote when I turned 18. Following my declaration, I remember my family members telling me that I should exercise my right to vote, and that it was “un-American” to not register to vote. My young, naïve, idealist self had the mindset that no president was going to be perfect, so whatever was meant to happen, was what was going to happen. Luckily, my mindset changed by the time I turned 18, and I became a registered voter.
Since I was a registered voter, I was able to cast my votes throughout this past presidential election process. Knowing that I was able to voice my opinion and stand for what I believed in was a really empowering thing to experience, even if all I did was mark some names off on a piece of paper.
One thing that I have noticed more often than not is that many adults that fall into the baby boomer category are very resistant to the political stances and ideas of the younger adult crowd, the millennials. As us millennials were growing up, we were taught how important it is to exercise our right to vote and our freedom of speech year after year in our social studies classes.
What I am wondering is, why is it that when we begin to speak up, those who have taught us to exercise our freedoms are the ones to try to shut us down? Statistics show that more hate crimes have resulted from this election than from any other election in history. As a result of those hate crimes, many millennials are coming together, protesting and doing other things that they believe will help make a change for the better.
It baffles me how contradictory people can become as soon as their beliefs are not the ones that are being supported. Protests, movements and other similar things are what cause change, and have been causing change, since Rosa Parks sat at the front of the bus, and long before that.
I am not saying that everyone should support every move that is made by large groups of people. I am not saying that millennials are always right, either. I just think that it is interesting how adults have spent so long building us up, telling us to find our voices and stand for what we believe in, but as soon as that belief does not align with theirs, it is wrong. This past election has brought on many things, but what stood out to me the most is the contradiction between what we have been taught since we were children and what the older adults are trying to teach us now.
No matter what you believe, it is important to exercise your rights and make your voice heard. What we were taught as children rings true, and for right now, I think that those who are trying to fight for change need to tune out the voices of those in opposition.
