“What do you know? You’re just a kid”

The title sentence perfectly describes this post’s content. But first, I will present myself.

As a 23-years-old young man starting my work life, I deal with tasks which are normally assigned to older people. I wake up every morning to work as a software developer, I earn my salary, pay my rent and bills and cook my food. I was taught since my early days that I must work hard on what I want to achieve and that great things come with dedication. However, I also believe that we should fight and disclose injustice situations.

It’s common that older people look at younger generations with distrust and a preconceived idea that we have bad will and need to suffer in order to grow up and become responsible men and women. That we need to be treated a level below so that we understand how ‘the machine works’, even if we have proven before that we deserve the same respect and rules. Personally, I have experienced multiple situations like this:

At my neighborhood:

1. “Someone broke a glass on the elevator. Ah it must be that kid from the 7th floor, let’s blame him”
2. “Someone is ringing bells at 5 am, probably the kid”

At a restaurant:

1. “There is a bunch of youngsters sitting on table 2. Let’s serve the older people first and leave them there, they won’t complain”

Either at my neighborhood (pointing fingers when bad things happen) or simply when being (under)served at a restaurant, I always assure myself to teach the other side a lesson. Even if they forget it 5 minutes later, it’ll be totally worth it. Despite the fact that it is often understood as a disrespectful act, it’s truly not and people will immediately feel a shake in their mindset and probably think twice next time. Or maybe not, but we did our part. We, as the future generation, have to take the main role in ending this type of discrimination and showing that this ‘snowball’ of ignorance must stop rolling.

When situations like this occur everyday and everywhere, I guess I am blessed for having family, friends and work mates with completely different ideas.

Young people are indeed the future, and they shouldn’t grow up with bad memories from those with whom they have learned.