I am very excited about the opportunity to work towards youth empowerment here in Washington, D.C. I have always thought that young people have enormous leadership potential and are capable of solving world’s most challenging issues for several reasons. First, due to lack of experience of real world and its sometimes not so pretty side, they do not see the obstacles that adults usually consider. Those obstacles appear based on previous experiences and failures. Whenever we start something new, we engage ourselves in thinking process that is supposed to give us a thorough analysis and prediction of whether something is going to work or not. Well, that is the majority of adults. Some, however, have the “no – questions – asked- just – do -it” mentality that allows them envision a project or an idea at a completed stage and apply all the necessary resources, whether they have them or not, to that idea or a project. Remembering how I was growing up and meeting a lot of young people years after, I believe that this is the kind of a mindset that young people explore the world with.
Apparently, at some stage many of us tend to lose it – one by one, like a small piece in a big chain of something bigger – the community. The process can be called a reality check or growing up or anything else and is used to explain taking more time to consider and plan a project or consider any kind of change in life. But is this an absolute truth? Kids and young people are often said to lack life experience and not knowing about real life problems. However, every now and then I read inspiring stories of young people that managed to invent incredible solutions to improve their communities. Does the life experience matter after all? What matters is the passion for change, improvement or innovation and knowing where to get the resources you lack at the moment.
In my blogs, I will be sharing stories of youth that I am working with at Youth Service America in order to inspire some of you! Age does not matter, leadership does.