Smells Like Teen Spirit

You grow taller, your body starts taking shape, you grow hair, become independent, have greater responsibilities, go through puberty, experience changes amongst relationships... all things in becoming of age, right?  But is angst a defining feature too? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines teenage angst as a feeling of anxiety, apprehension, or insecurity.  Now, while for some teens it is definitely something they go through during their teenage years, it is not that situation for every teen. Assuming that all teens go through that moody, depressing, insecure phase is creating a single story. And a single story can be dangerous, as Chimamanda Adichie tells us during her TEDTalk.  Every teenager is different and every scenario is different as well. Situations in certain people’s lives bring out angst whereas other situations do the complete opposite. You cannot generalize an entire population of teenagers and say that everyone goes through teen angst because that’s just not the fact; there are no facts, statistics, or scientific proof that back up that claim.

It is hard to categorize teens as people who are angry and against the world around them when you have such a huge quantity of youth activists trying to make the world a better place. According to Statistics Canada, young Canadians, aged 15-24, are more likely to volunteer than any other age group.  Statistics Canada also states that 6 out of 10 young Canadians are said to volunteer one way or another.

With such a significant number of youth volunteers, it’s no wonder that there are so many organizations that are attracting youths. One organization that definitely contributes to the increase in youth volunteering and celebrates their accomplishments is Free the Children.  Empowering youths to fight for the rights of children around the world, Free the Children has currently made an impact in 9 countries. According to their impact report, the youth volunteer trips have contributed to 76,435 hours of volunteering, 52 new classrooms, 11 latrines, 33 murals, 8 housing units, and 2 school kitchens in the year 2013 alone… pretty remarkable! And that’s not all! Not only does Free the Children make an impact abroad, but in local communities as well.

Free the Children likes to give acknowledgement to those youth who are making an impact around the world and locally. That is why they’ve created We Day. And the greatest thing about this event, is that you cannot buy a ticket to it… you must earn your seat! You earn it through volunteering and/or fundraising. In We Day’s latest tour season, they held 14 global events with over 8000 schools participating, raised 45 million dollars for local and global causes, and accounted for 14.8 million volunteer hours. These aren’t just events of a few hundred people either; these are stadium-packed events of over 20,000 young activists.

This is just one organization, and there are so many more groups out there that are making similar impacts. Now how can you tell me that all teens are angry, unmotivated, and selfish people?