“Age doesn’t matter.” This popular saying holds much truth. In this blog, it’s not about love but rather it’s about making contribution. A significant one. Well, we all can. We just have to use that power we all have in us. It’s the power to believe in one’s self that you can make a difference despite being young. It just depends on how we do and use it. It can either be for the better or for the worse.
These youngsters have proven that they can and have used it for the better.
1.) Iqbal Masih
Source: google.com
“Children should have pens in their hands not tools.”
This kid had already fought the two biggest fights of his life. The fight against child labor and the fight for children’s right to education.
Iqbal Masih knew that he could do something. At the age of 12, he escaped as a child laborer in Pakistan and started campaigning against child labor and for children’s right to education. His speeches and campaigns against child labor made a great influence to thousands of child slaves and laborers who followed his example. He promoted education to others to make them aware of their current situation and of their rights. His advocacy led to 3,000 children freed from forced child labor.
2.) Nkosi Johnson
Source: google.com
“… We are normal. We are human beings. We can walk, we can talk… We have needs just like everyone else. We are all the same.”
HIV-AIDS is a silent killer. Literally. The social stigma placed upon any mention of HIV or AIDS, keeps people with HIV-AIDS hidden in the dark. Unable to access full medical care, people with HIV-AIDS just die silently.
Equality and respect for HIV victims. This is what the young Nkosi Johnson has been fighting for. He himself experienced being discriminated after not being accepted in a school because of his HIV status. He was a South-African child born with HIV-AIDS which he inherited from his parents. Because of discrimination, Johnson stepped up to fight for better treatment of HIV victims. He became an influential speaker who changed the public’s perception on HIV and its effects. Moreover, Johnson with the help of her foster mother built a shelter for mothers and children with HIV. He died at the age of 12. He was awarded the Children’s Peace Prize for his great contribution.
3.) Malala Yousafzai
Source: google.com
“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.”
Imagine living in a patriarchal country where women have no equal rights and opportunities like men. Imagine living under a tyranny. Imagine living with a threat to your life. You can’t even imagine right?
This was not just a case of pure imagination but an exact reality for Malala Yousafzai, the brave young girl. She is a Pakistani youth who lives under the Taliban government where human rights are often violated. Seeing this happening, Yousafzai advocated for the upholding of the human rights, women’s rights and right to education of the Pakistani people. She also actively criticized the Taliban government. She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman but survived. Despite the present danger, she still didn’t stop and continued her campaign at greater lengths. Later, she became a leading advocate for protecting people’s rights.
4.) Samantha Smith
Source: google.com
“… I just hope we can have some peace and I hope it’ll do some good.”
World Peace. Everybody wants it and young Samantha is no exception.
Sam played her part in trying to make the world a peaceful place to live in. During the Cold War era of US and Soviet Union in the 1980s, she sent a letter to the then General Secretary of the Soviet Union Yuri Andropov expressing her deep concern about the intensifying relations between the two states. Andropov personally replied to the said letter and invited her to the Soviet. In 1983, Samantha involved herself in the peacemaking activities in Japan and became America’s youngest Ambassador.
5.) Anne Frank
Source: google.com
“I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to other people…I want to go on living even after my death…”
Anne Frank certainly did continue to live in the hearts and minds of many. Who would ever think that the simple diary she owned would someday become one of the treasured possessions of the past? Well, maybe no one until they read it.
Frank was a Jewish girl who lived during the Nazi occupation of Netherlands and spent almost all of her life hiding. During that time, Frank wrote all of her experiences and struggles in her diary. Unfortunately, she died in one of the concentration camps. After her father published her diary, it became an international bestseller. Her diary gave a clearer picture of the Holocaust and helped give a young person’s view on the said historic tragedy.
See? Age doesn’t really matter. Whether you’re young or not, you can make a contribution. It might not be as global and as big as those of the heroic kids mentioned above. But it can be as significant. It doesn’t matter if it’s small or little as long as it’s doing some good to others, you can be a hero in your own way. After all, all great things come from small ones, right?
We are never too young to make great things happen.
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YOUth can. 