Written by Amanda Ramaningrum and Juhandi Dwi Putra Lyana, Content Writer Intern at Project Child Indonesia
Have you ever heard the words “Youth are the key agents of change”? Maybe we have heard it hundreds or thousands of times from our parents, teacher, lecturer, or whoever is older than us. It is not wrong if youths are well-known as the agent of change, due to the fact that there are 1.2 billion of youth in the world today. Youths have those energy and creativity to change and improve the world.
Therefore, every year on August 12, the United Nations designates a day of awareness as International Youth Day. It is the day where all young people in the world celebrate their potential as active partners in the global society. Held with a different theme every year, this year’s International Youth Day theme is “Transforming Food Systems: Youth Innovation for Human and Planetary Health,” with the goal of highlighting that the success of such a global effort will not be achieved without the meaningful participation of young people.
Mentality of A Good Youth
Why is young people’s participation so important? Referring to the United Nation’s explanation, with young people playing a key role in society, they can bring a positive impact that leads to social reform and improvement in society by providing the energy, creative ideas and determination to drive innovation and reform.
There are two important attitudes that good youth should have. First, having a growth mindset. Growth mindset is the belief that you can learn. With this mindset, you can be braver to take on new challanges and see failure and mistakes as part of learning. So, explore! Don’t be afraid to try new things. Second, having empathy. As youth, we should see the bigger picture in certain situations. Empathy helps us to cooperate with others. Being concerned with others helps us understand how others feel, and greater empathy could lead us to develop more helping behaviour.
Things You Can Do to be A Better Youth
As we said before, as a key agent of change, young people have the ability to reform society and make an impact. With a good attitude, there are many ways to contribute. It doesn’t mean you must do a ‘big thing’. Small acts can lead to a better habit, which leads to a bigger impact as well.
“We learn together to get better, so when we get the ‘capacity’, we can do more positive impact” — Kak Abie, The Director of Partnership in Project Child Indonesia
Then, what could we do as a youth?
- Self-leadership and supporting others
When youth has good self-leadership, it means they have the ability to achieve personal and professional goals. While implementing this, we also help and support the other youth to improve their ability. And then, together we can learn and develop to be a better youth.
- Be a good user of internet and social media
Being a good user of the internet, especially social media, is one of the small acts that you can do as a good youth. Same as the mouth, the fingers can hurt others, too. Every word carries weight, so we need to take responsibility for what we’ve written. Spread positive content and information to your circle, give appreciative words to your mutuals, or simply be mindful of everything that you will write could lead to a bigger impact as well.
- Help your surroundings
There is a proverb, “An elephant in front of your eyes, you can’t see; but an ant on another island, you can see.” We could start it from our surroundings. As we could see together, we are still in the middle of a pandemic. We could help each other by voluntarily delivering food to older adults, checking their health condition, donating some food supplies to local organizations, volunteering to teach children in your neighborhood, or just simply picking up your phone when your friends or acquaintances call you. Small things mean big for those who need.
There are many ways to get the capacity to make a more positive impact for the world. One of the easiest ways to contribute is to donate. In this pandemic, Project Child Indonesia– a community based NGO that believes in the notion of “everyone can do good”!– launches Online Learning Assistance (OLA) program, in response to riverside children affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and have already helped more than 80 children this year. Small acts of kindness lead to bigger impacts. With your donation through KitaBisa.com, you are indirectly helping these children to get a better education.
The Covid-19 pandemic could not stop us, the youth, from making the world a better place. So, let’s celebrate this International Youth day by being the agent of change starting from our family, neighborhood, community, and then society. We are youth for the world.
References:
United Nation. International Youth Day. Retrieved from
https://www.un.org/en/observances/youth-day
United Nation. Youth and Volunteer. Retrieved from
https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-volunteerism.pdf
Martine Bloom, Irish, et al. 2021. Youth vs Pandemic: The Role of Future Generation in The Pandemic Treaty. Retrieved from
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(21)00307-7/fulltext
Jewish Family Service. How You Can Actively Volunteer During the Covid-19 Pandemic. Retrieved from
https://www.jewishfamilyservice.org/blog/how-to-actively-volunteer-during-pandemic
Student U. 2020. Youth Work 101. Retrieved from
https://studentudurham.org/growth-mindset/
Psychology Today. Empathy. Retrieved from
