Dear World Leaders, I am not ok with this
Dear World Leaders,
It’s currently May of 2020 and I got to say: I am not ok with this!
My name is Renata, I’m a 21-year-old girl, and I’m currently sending this letter from the future. I don’t have much knowledge of politics, but I do have knowledge about what is going to happen in the next few months.
I know what you are thinking “What could possibly be happening, five months from the start of the year, that is startling this young woman so much?” Well, it’s a pandemic.
You see, I know that, as you are reading this, the COVID-19 situation in China is all over the news, and you need to take action because it is going to strike the rest of the world!
In just the first three months of the year, more than 166 countries will declare country-wide schools and Universities closure. As this is happening, several countries’ Healthcare Systems are going to fall due to the immense pressure of this pandemic — not having enough resources to attend to everyone in need.
Following this, unemployment rates will start to grow. As I’m writing to you, just in the US, more than 30 million people have applied for unemployment benefits. If that’s not enough, just remember that almost every working sector is going to shut down and in-person retail shopping will vanish.
You will have to force us into social distancing, and it’s going to be a nightmare!
I’m writing to you because I think you should have a heads-up. To see if you start to take action right in the first month of the year.
As I’m writing you this letter, The UN wrote a report about the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19.
Do you want to know what the UN mentions in this report?
Apparently, if you had invested more in the SDGs we could be better prepared for this pandemic. The UN goes further and says that investing in the SDGs could ‘’have put us on track towards a world with access to universal health coverage and quality health care’’.
That’s why I am not ok with this.
As a young person, I’m deeply disappointed. We’ve been fighting for the 2030 Agenda alongside you! We’ve been supporting you and asking you to help us out, and you didn’t do your part. Now, we are facing the consequences of it.
My generation and the ones before and after us fear for their future. We know how much this pandemic is going to put a strain on the economy and the social life of our countries. We know it will be our responsibility to bounce back and fix our planet, and we are ok with that! But we need your help.
Please listen to us! Please take action!
I know that it seems like I am asking for something impossible, but it isn’t. A fair and equal world is not impossible and it is not too much to ask.
I am not ok with what is happening but. for you, it’s still the start of the year and you can do something — you can take action!
It won’t stop what is to come from happening, but it can give her and so many others hope! Hope for a world where people don’t fear going out to work because they might get sick and not be able to get treatment.
It can give us hope for a world where people don’t go into starvation because they can’t afford food. It can give us hope that change is possible and we can achieve it!
I hope my letter finds you well and I hope you take accountability. We all depend on you but we will be here to help you with whatever you need, all you have to do is ask!
Show us that you can move the world and we will know that the Leaders of Today will be there for us tomorrow.
Sincerely yours,
Renata.
