THE sky is a mirror. A glance at the sky can tell us a lot about the people who live beneath it. During the Industrial Revolution, our skies were dark grey. The cold greyness promised a new world where steel and glass would melt and grow into cities with skyscrapers and giant bridges.
More subtly, the greyness also foretold a future where human beings would be separated from each other by their desires and well-concealed greed. It foretold a world that did not mind its skies becoming black with smoke if it meant that a lucky few could enjoy wealth and profits.
Today, our skies are no longer tainted with soot to the extent they once were. This tells us that the world beneath the clearing skies is capable of change.

The sky does not only mirror humanity as a whole, but also the very dreams and thoughts in our eyes. Every cloud that takes the form of a lion, every star that transforms into a diamond, and every rainbow that becomes a fairytale — they all mirror human dreams. The things we see around us take different forms, depending on who we are as people. Regardless of how meticulously we design and engineer our world, it becomes something completely different the moment an individual glances at it.
Nevertheless, we must not fool ourselves into believing that our perspectives are stable enough to paint the world in a permanently transformative manner. In simpler words, the world shapes us just as much as we shape it.

During this strange journey of youth, where we are simultaneously changing the world and allowing the world to change us, there are a few precious belongings we must guard from harm.
Among these belongings is our mind. The mind is the sky to our soul. In the same way that the sky reflects human nature, our mind reflects the quality of our souls.

Mental health is one of the most heavily debated topics as it relates to young people. It seems as if there are more and more mental health issues arising among young people every single day. Floating through a sea of hurt and anger, the future recipients of this planet are fighting a battle that is, in a strange way, as personal as it is prevalent. Issues concerning mental health cannot be fixed with words of advice or discussions, but they can be brought to the surface, where those who are struggling can at least begin to recognise what it is they are fighting. Perhaps, in this aspect, young people’s minds are extremely similar to the skies of the Industrial Revolution.

Pollution and climate change are terms well-known by the younger generation for the vast impact they will have on our future quality of life. These issues, however, took ages to recognise and even longer to address. It took us decades, if not more than a century after we first began polluting the air during the Industrial Revolution, to understand that no level of profit is worth the harm being caused to our planet. Although our skies were black for a long time, we eventually began to make conscious efforts to clear them, and convince people that changes needed to be made to their behaviours.

Our mental health is quite similar. We can speculate that the quality of mental health has not necessarily worsened in the younger generation. Rather, we have simply begun to make conscious efforts to screen people for illnesses and encourage open discussions about mental health struggles. Those who would have suffered silently in the past are now provided with the opportunity to heal and grow openly. The minds of human beings, like the skies, have been shrouded in darkness for quite some time. It is just that now, we are starting to notice. It took forums, discussions, and a plethora of agreements for climate change to be taken as seriously as it is now. Similarly, there has been a collective effort to make mental health a widely discussed topic.

Our minds are pieces of us that help us see the world more beautifully. Our minds help us to be ourselves. Gen Z enjoys the extraordinary ability to be open about mental health and to heal together. Thus, we have the unique responsibility of ensuring that this opportunity is used to its full extent.