Why should we empower youth?

(Translated from spanish)...

For a young mexican like Norberto García, all days are just the same. Without motivation he asks himself what is his mission in life. "Seek not to fight evil, let goodness take its place", would be the advice of Illion Merculieff, and indigenous activist who has carried the voice of his people, the Aleuts. Living in the sea of Bering, Larry -as he is also known, encourages young people to change their lives. Norberto then would have a choice, to focus on something that he wants to get away, like injustice, or focus on creating justice. “There is a difference, very subtle but a very profound difference in this”, declared Larry during his interview. As hopeless as Norberto, there are thousands of young people who need to be encouraged to make a difference, specially in a world that is facing one of the worst social and environmental crisis. There is still hope for the world and the young are part of it. “Everyday we live we impact the planet, but to an extent we have a choice on the type of impact that is going to be”, commented Jane Goodall when answering about the question of the role of young people nowadays. “If young people gets involved and makes a subject of their own, sometimes to be able to meet people with the same dreams, the same problems and the thought that we can act collectively is very inspiring for them”, she said. Adding to this, what we also need is to inject passion and waken the heart of every Norberto in the world, a task that is not easy. “If we have the same consciousness and the same mind that has created this destruction in the first place, how can we expect of this younger ones to know what do to”, finalized Larry. That is why it becomes an imperative that young people become actors, producers, writers and critics of their own actions. Now when Norberto wakes up, he smiles because he knows he has the spirit to confront the adventure of life.