As the exams are around the corner, I thought I would take the opportunity to write the quintessential ‘what a year’ post. And an explosive year it has been for the class of 2019. My graduation year has been everything I needed it to be, but nothing close to what I imagined it would be. I’ve seen myself – and my friends – go through some of the most changing events they’ve had to face till date, and unsurprisingly so, as Year 13 brews a storm of university applications, academic pressure and teenage crises for its victims (the students). But at the end of it all, it makes you proud to look back at all the work, and all the time telling yourself to be strong and keep going forward, the tears, the memories that brought you to that moment. And I haven’t even seen the last of my fight yet – there’s still exams, results and whatever else the world has yet to throw at me – but it’s important to stop and thank yourself for making it this far. That’s one of the lessons I learnt over the course of these two years, dealing with all of this alongside mental health challenges.
We’ve transitioned into adulthood in stormy times, to say the least. We’re uncertain whether we can trust the people in power. Our inheritance seems to be a world that’s divided, violent and collapsing in on itself. But we are a generation with the energy to drive grassroots change, because we’ve seen what wars, oppression and neglect of the world we live in can do to people, especially young people. And yes, we’ve been called snowflakes, selfie snapping, phone tapping Generation Z – but we’re also using the privilege that belongs to some of us and looking to see how we can be part of the solution, because technology and the diverse cultural landscape of the 21st century have made it possible for us.
Thank you to the generations that brought us up. Thank you, if you’re of my generation, for coming this far. And I hope that we can turn around the pessimism of our generation into a more conscious next generation, that can thank us for what we tried to do with what we received.
Read and readjoice,
Shreya
Paradise Prose Blog 