My name is Katie, I’m 21 and I’m confused.

I was never a particularly informed and opinionated citizen. When political arguments broke out around the dinner table (or any skirmish over any sort of ideology around any type of household furniture was aroused), I’d never have any valid points to put up in defense of my side. And that was simply because I’ve just never cared. Sure, I knew Obama was a big deal and I know what a terrorist is, but my rich inner life seemed to always keep me more or less distracted. I was contained in the impenetrable bubble of self-involvement that my generation is so often accused of residing within (just as every previous generation has been when they too were learning how to take over the world). I’d say the standard things when current issues cropped up in conversation, but in all honesty, most of the time I was just repeating the words of some late night show host.

But the young and naïve cannot remain that way forever. There is no Neverland, no place where we can escape to. Eventually we all have to get our s*** together and start paying attention to the big picture.

And now, I believe, it’s happening to me. Whether it be my natural interest growing or I’m being finally molded by my society to care, I’m "adulting". Along with the rest of my generation, the infamous “Millennials”. We are finally coming to grips with the state of affairs the world is in.

This is why I’m confused. I know that the world we were promised when we were still young isn’t going to be our reality, but did anyone expect it to be this bad? And did everything change from my childish, candy-colored fantasies to this nightmarish, morally-absent reality overnight, or was this a long time coming?

I’m confused as to why there are refugees out there with no homes, because theirs were blown up and no one wants to let them in. I’m confused as to why the media, especially here in the US, has chosen to provide us with false information and to sell itself to the highest bidder rather than to just tell us the truth. I’m confused how religious beliefs, race, gender, sexual orientation, or any other adjective that’s ever been known to describe a person can tell us something about an individual’s worthiness to be accepted and loved.

This political campaign, hey if you’re not confused, give me a call! But what confuses me most, what truly boggles my mind; what baffles me to no extent is that these are the problems we go red in the face arguing over. These are the issues that dominate discussion boards and rule talk shows. This is what people are worrying about while we are actively in the process of burning the land that provides for us, killing the world we love, and irrevocably changing the way this planet functions (and if you think that last sentence was too radical, then we probably wouldn’t get along too well).

I am confused. I am terrified. I am the complete mix of emotions that comes with having your reality shattered and coming to face that your country is in fact not the best nation in the world; not the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

This is why I chose to join Odyssey when I learned that a branch was being started at my school. I thought that maybe, rather than banging my head against the wall in an attempt to get it to function in the way everyone else’s does, I’d write about my fears, my confusions, my conflicts. I’d write, and I’d see if anyone else out there might agree with me. Because if there are still some people left out there who do, then maybe there might still be some hope.