There are a sh*t ton of news sources all over the place. Nowadays, information has become so handy that we can easily follow up on various life trends from all over the world. This helps us achieve and engage in globalization. However, as far as I understand globalization, there needs to be understanding among each other; an understanding between cultures, generations and inter-generations as well. Coming from a diverse background, I've come to realize by my teenage years that the system of humanity was not going well. This is not to blame humanity but to blame our lack of commitment to live by its standards.

What concerns me is the lack of large scale cooperation between youth across different cultures. Youth are the drive behind change, improvement and leadership in any society. All societies are aware of that. Yet, I came to notice that many Americans are not actually well-rounded on the interests, stories and ideas of many Middle Easterners. Why I am saying this? Well, because, aside from the fact that I am a Middle Easterner by myself, I have immersed myself extensively in both areas. From my experience, I came to reaffirm my position that youth are inherently powerful and unlimitedly capable. But I also came to notice, that we are still lacking a lot.

After being an exchange student for a year in high school. I came to represent my mixed Pakistani-Yemeni background but also culture, religion and the aspirations of my generation. It was a success. I hoped I had built a new bridge between the two cultures. This bridge is reinforced by sharing stories, spreading messages of love and hope. I was really excited to make such a humble impact on humanity. However, as years came by, I began to lose that hope.

The loss of hope struck me the most in the latest elections in which unfortunately, a bigot was won. I saw media reporting racism, hate and anger instead of love and humanity. I told myself: this is very saddening, what is happening to the world and what have we done wrong? I began to question whether all what I did during my exchange year in the United States was ever useful? Answering that question was very difficult and it brought me a lot of pain whenever I thought about it.

I forced myself to think in more constructive ways. Perhaps, one of the very first conclusions that I jumped into was that hate tends to stick around in a stronger way than love. Yet, it doesn’t stay for long. This time, we are facing a wave of hate. Unfortunately, even the brightest souls quickly picked it up. It could be human psychology or it could be an ideological weakness in their minds. But, no one is perfect, so maybe hate plays on our weaker, unconscious side. Love is profoundly beautiful yet for some reason, people overlook it. On the other hand, hate, like an old friend use to say, is a disease. That being said, it requires a great amount of courage to fight that disease. Perhaps we could start by convincing ourselves that hate is a swift damaging phenomenon that shouldn’t impact our presence in this universe.

Nowadays, I am back in the United States after several years for a short college experience. I was standing there at Pennsylvania Avenue as Trump was being sworn in. I felt terrified and I was nervous. I knew that dark times are going to come and I already felt that the two forces of evil and good were fighting against each other. Yet, the next day, the Women’s March on Washington was live and it was one of the happiest days in my life. Since then, I have been participating in various protests to send a strong message to the community around me.

When we think of who is right and who is wrong, we will fail to reach anywhere. We keep judging people but we fail to evaluate and improve ourselves. We blame others because naturally as humans, we do not want to be held accountable for any wrongdoings. This creates hate. We should instead focus on understanding our problems, talking about our differences and sharing our ideas. As a teenager, I came to respect the American nation and I saw a huge potential in it. I saw a lot of hardworking students, employees, and families who not just want to improve their lives, but to give back to humanity. Similarly, in the Middle East, I saw a lot of bright minds, a lot of brilliant souls and a lot of aspiring communities. I believe, that we should work together regardless of any differences and regardless of the evil forces. After all, we are humans and that alone is powerful enough to unite us against evil.