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Be The Face Of Change by James Rint

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Nelson Mandela once said. ‘The youth of today will be the leaders of tomorrow,’ but what does this quote mean? It means that you, yes you, no matter how old you are, if you have any sort of disability or whether you are considered unworthy because of your gender or your race, you can still be the person people look up to. 

And no, it does not just mean that go to the house of parliament and say ‘I want to be the Prime Minister.’ It means that you become the leader of change whether it is about pollution, climate change, poverty or something rarely talked about.  

We need more young people today to drop their phones, stop scrolling through social media and focus on real world problems. Studies have even shown that only 70% of young people know what is going on in the world today. The generation that is meant to be leading our children are ever so slowly drifting away.  

And you do not have to be the perfect leader people look up to, leaders can be imperfect and make mistakes because as Albert Einstein has said ‘Anyone who has never had a mistake, has never tried something new.’ When you are a leader, it is about being the best version of yourself.  

Because your voice can empower and guide others, your voice can change lives of people you do not even know and your voice can be the stamp for others in the future. 

But if you think that you cannot be a leader because of persecutions in your life, well do not worry, all of our leaders today, and the past, have been through such persecutions. And let us remember what one song writer once said,  

Never gonna give you up
Never go let you 
Never gonna ran around and desert you. 

And even though this does not have any personal meaning it has a few words to learn. It is to never give up and desert our dreams of being a leader of tomorrow. Thank you for your time. 

Scarlett Leads by Advocating for the LGBTQ+ Community
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I’ll Try

Scarlett Mitchelson

 

My name is Scarlett Mitchelson, and I’m here to talk about how we can stop homophobia. I may only be 12, but I hope I can make a difference in the world, or even just the country. I’ll begin with explaining some cool things and mentioning some people in the LGBTQ+ community!

 

Some of the most well-known celebrities are in the LGBTQ+ community. For instance, Halsey, identifies as Bisexual, meaning she likes men and women. Or Brenden Urie, he identifies as Pansexual, meaning he likes all genders. If you didn’t know, each sexuality has a different flag. Take the Pride flag for example. Red for life, orange for healing, yellow for sunlight, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.

 

I now want to explain some of the cruel things that are happening around the world. People are being arrested for being themselves, and for having a relationship with someone of the same gender! People are protesting to get rid of all people in the community. People are going to Pride Marches to burn flags in front of LGBTQ+ people. In some states, it is illegal to be LGBTQ+. This is insane, and it needs to stop. We shouldn’t have to worry about being arrested for just being in a Pride March. Females shouldn’t be shamed for wearing shorts or jeans, because apparently women are only supposed to wear skirts and dresses. We shouldn’t have to be scared of openly supporting the community, because some people hate them so much. This needs to stop, and if no one is going to do anything about it, I guess I’ll try.

 

Now the important part, how we can stop this. I’ll just list a few examples, and how you can do them. 1. Start by becoming an ally (a supporter), if you’re not already. You can do this by just assuring your friends who may be in the community that they can talk to you, or if someone asks, just state that you’re an ally! 2. Stand up for LGBTQ+ folk. If you see someone being bullied or harassed for their gender or sexuality, just try to comfort them, or tell the bullies off. 3. If you want to go the extra mile, buy a pride flag! Any will do, and it’s your choice on which one. You can buy them on any website, such as Amazon, Etsy, eBay, and many more. Being a supporter of the community can make a person’s day and make them feel valid.

 

I won’t keep you guys any longer, so I’ll just finish off with some extra things to be aware of. Being gay is not a sin. Being bisexual is not ‘just a phase’. Being transgender doesn’t mean you’re fussy. Being pansexual doesn’t mean you’re attracted to kitchenware. Being homophobic doesn’t make you a bad person. Being an ally isn’t disrespecting LGBTQ+ people. Being attracted to the same gender doesn’t mean that you’re weird. Being yourself isn’t bad. If you want to wear something, wear it. If you want to like a certain color, like it. If you want to cut your hair or grow it out, do it. If you want to be yourself, be yourself.