“Of Youth and Age”

Central Argument: Even though the youthful mind makes hasty decisions, they have a greater imagination and newer ideas compared to older, experienced minds.

It is said by many that the future lies in the hand of the younger generation. In this essay, “Of Youth and Age” Francis Bacon states that the creative, fresh minds of the youth allow change to take place and ideas to flourish as they are focused in reaching their goal. I agree with Bacon completely as nowadays it seems like the youth are the ones that strive to achieve their goals and make a change in society by finding the flaws in it and fixing them. These actions taken by the youth are evident through the Kony 2012 film campaign, as well as the actions taken by Ryan Hreljac in building wells in Africa.

The Kony 2012 is a short film and a campaign by the Invisible Children, hoping to reach the world for support against Joseph Kony, a leader of a rebel party in Uganda. Kony has been taking millions of children, making sex slaves out of the girls and keeping the boys for his army. These children are made to kill their own parents and live their life in fear. Jason Russel and his team’s attempt to stop Kony began a few years ago, but the government took no action. However, recently after the release of this video, millions of youth have come together to act against this one case. The youth protests have gotten so large that the American government are willing give aid to them. Even though these people were rejected by the government a few years ago, Russel found another way to get his message across. According to Bacon, men from the older generation would try, but leave it if it did not work.

I heard about Ryan Hreljac from my mother a few years ago, as she read an article about this boy that decided to sponsor a well in Africa. At an early age, Hreljac was told of the misery faced by many African children as they had little education and poor health care systems. Many of these children often got sick due to the contaminated water. The students were also told of how they could help by building a well. When Hreljac got home, he told his parents about his plan of building a well in Africa. However, the actual cost of building a well was much more than what the teacher said it was, but he kept agreeing to any task set by his parents to earn that money. By the time he had earned enough money and built a well in Africa, he had become known worldwide for this act of kindness. Even though it was a teacher who put the thought into his mind, it was his decision to carry it out and did not let anything stand in his way.

Even though these acts are of two completely different topics and of different levels, these young people are making an effort for a change in the ways things are dealt with. Both Russel and Hreljac are taking steps using their imagination and creativity of their youthful minds to spread the awareness and anything necessary for the public to react. These people, the younger generation, are the future of a better tomorrow.