Time to start writing again

I used to write. I used to write in online journals. I used to write notes on facebook. I used to write bits and pieces into notebooks that I wanted to turn into articles. And then, a few years ago, I stopped writing. Instead of writing about issues important to me, I'd link to someone else's writings. Instead of taking the time to research an issue and form an opinion, I'd put up a facebook status. I would spend time arguing with random people on random blogs that I could have spent creating my own.

No more. It is time for me to put my voice back out there. I want to get into the habit of sitting down and formulating a complete thought. I'm going to try to write an entry a week - whether on politics, social issues, world issues, religion, travel, my classes, anything that strikes my fancy.

Meanwhile, I'm going to post a rough draft of the only thing I've written in the past year that wasn't an entrance essay for graduate school. My friend Adam and I toyed with the idea of creating a blog for young adults to write for - only young adults. Life unfortunately got in the way, but this was what I hammered out one morning while watching the sun rise in Maui:

Life tends to be simple when you are a child. Your worries and concerns revolve around sweets and toys. You look at the adults around you and they seem infallible. Their opinions are law. When else would the phrase “because I said so” be an acceptable final word in a conversation or argument? Growing up, you are taught that the skies are the limit (and even that isn’t quite applicable anymore). No thought is too outrageous and no goal is unattainable. The refrain “you are the generation of the future” is a mantra on repeat in your head while you continue to depend on adults for guidance.

Well, the future is now upon us. We are adults in every sense of the word: we can vote, we can die for our countries, and we all pay taxes. We are well educated and well traveled. We are currently working on advanced degrees or are already contributing members of the workforce. We are the adults we once idolized and depended on. So where are we? Why don’t we have a voice on the issues that are important to us; that affect us daily?

Looking at politics, young adults are severely underrepresented. The average age of Senators in the United States is 61.7 years; the average age for the House is 56. There are just three members of Congress under the age of 35. In other countries, the averages do not fair much better. In Canada, the average age of Members of Parliament is 52. In 2005, the average age for the Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom was 50.6. In Israel, the Knesset has an average age of 53. How many of our politicians actually take the time to understand the issues that are important to our generation? When is the last time a politician talked to a young adult not just about tuition but about healthcare or immigration reform or foreign policy? The same could be said about so many other public sectors of society. Open up a newspaper, how many of the writers are under the age of 30? How many newscasters or talk show hosts or even pundits are young adults?

We are revered as athletes and as performers, so why do we not garner the same respect for what is in our heads? We are empowered our whole lives and now, when it matters most, we are ignored for the status quo (how is that working out, world?) From such domestic issues as health, immigration, fiscal responsibility, governance - to international issues such as defense, war, peace, foreign policy, global warming, we have a vast variety of opinions and ideas with no platform to share them on.

Until now.

So this is it. Welcome to my blog!