We Are Young

“No adolescent ever wants to be understood, which is why they complain about being misunderstood all the time.” - Stephen Fry

Our parents want what's best for us, but what's best for us isn't always what we want. My generation wants freedom, freedom, and freedom. We can no longer bear the rules imposed on our parents by their parents. We wants to express ourselves, set our own expectations, and beam with delight at our accomplishments. Our accomplishments, not our parents'. We want to achieve the impossible while losing ourselves in daydreams. We want to be overcome by a sense of infinite possibility. We want to feel as though we can do anything we want...anything. With the Internet at our disposal, the possibilities are endless. We are more than ever before surrounded by a plethora of information. The world is one-click away; we want to take advantage of all that it has to offer. We thirst to prove ourselves, to the world, and say that we have enough common sense to make our own decisions. We are young, too young. We know more than we give ourselves credit for. Our knowledge is--and will always be--an ever expanding balloon. We are talented, creative, and inventive, but we'd sooner seek adventures than stay home, playing the role of well-behaved children. We like to lean out of the window and let the wind take us to far away places. We are unique. We are rebels. We do what we expect of us, not what's expected of us. We are singers. We are writers. We are painters. We are scientists. The world of  our parents has lost its luster. We want a small but perfect piece of infinity. We want to build it, shape it, dismantle it, and rebuild it. We want to start at the bottom and build our way up to the top. We don't want to hold our parents' hands anymore. We don't want to hold anyone's hand anymore. We are pillars. Strong and invincible. We are trees that have weathered difficulty, suffered through storms, and endured lightning strikes. Yet our will remains intact. We believe nothing will make us crumble. We are the indestructible generation. We follow our heart's desire, indulge in pleasurable activities, and heinously disregard most rules. It's who we are. It's who we strive to be.

We want to be heard. Our voices are loud. They ring with laughter. The echoes follow. We make noise. We can't be defeated. We think ourselves powerful. We make mistakes, mutter I'm sorry, and move on. Our throats throb and clog, but we emerge stronger than ever before. We are young, yet we seem to believe time is running out. That it's somehow too late. We fear that which we cannot understand, but we can't help being drawn by it. We want more than what we have. We want to be young forever. We want freedom. We want the forbidden. We don't want expectations. We want to be ourselves. We numb the pain, hurt ourselves, and emerge stronger than yesterday. We deem ourselves indestructible. We dip our fingers into a jar of paint, smear them all over a canvas, and leave our fingerprints behind. The world is at our finger tips. We are naïve. We still believe in fairy tales and in happy endings. We cling to the fragments of a dream and refuse to wake up. We walk around with blank stares, concealing the world behind our eyes. We are strong. We swallow our feelings, struggle to keep afloat, and follow the current. We are young, too young. Life is but a winding path stretching ahead of us, which we must set upon and journey alone. But that's okay, because we are young. We think we can do it all, and we can. We are realistic; we wish the impossible. Because we are young. So young. Full of life. High on dreams. Motivated to live. Young.