GENERATION Z stands at the cusp of inheriting the world. Our hands are outstretched, and we stand in anticipation of the weight that will inevitably be thrust into our palms. Although we know that we will face many new responsibilities, we are comforted by the thrilling fact that we can now demand more from the world. Now that we have more control of the way our world works, we can direct it into a path of growth that suits the shape of our hopes. We can finally ask the world to be more, to do more, to grow more, and to treat our desires as more than just hopes, but as expectations that predict how our collective future will unfold.
Then again, what exactly can we ask of a world that is already fighting against the strain of chaos? What do we demand of a world that seems to be falling apart more quickly than it can stop to listen?
We are not strangers to the idea of having to shoulder the burden of mistakes made in the past. We are constantly exposed to discussions on issues that were created long before our existence and may haunt people who will come long after we ourselves are gone. Yet, when face-to-face with the prospect of stepping into a pair of enormous, weathered shoes, most members of the younger generation experience one feeling more predominantly than they experience fear, anxiety, hope or even excitement. When faced with the fact that we will become yet another generation that is tasked with cleaning up the world rather than living in it, we experience anger. We become angry to the extent that we neglect the gift that we inherit until it is time to pass it on to a new generation. Then, we suffer the regret of becoming another set of predecessors that failed to prepare a proper home for their children.
Perhaps our ability to accept the world and love it will only come after we have first learned to forgive it.
As we grow up and build new relationships with the people around us, we will gradually learn to love. When we learn to love, we uncover parts of ourselves that we may have never believed existed. We will discover that our limits and boundaries extend much further than we may have ever thought. We will realise that we can bend much more than we can break. As we learn to love, we will also learn to forgive. We will learn to forgive those we love because we realise that when we love someone, we become so deeply connected to them that even their imperfections become a part of us. Forgiveness is being able to love someone’s imperfections just as much as we love their perfections.
Taking on the responsibility of caring for our world is a little like learning to love a new person. Unfortunately, it is so much easier to notice its imperfections before we see its perfections. Perhaps this is why we begin to hate the role of inheriting the world long before we accept it — because we meet its flaws before we fall in love with it. Accepting a flawed world is indeed an unfair task that we are all born with. However, we are also born with the gift of being able to correct the flaws that we observe. Unlike a person who cannot be forced into becoming someone without any flaws, a world is malleable under capable hands. With the right ideas and a sense of companionship, we can change it into a version that is closer to our idea of perfection.
So, the time has come for us to stop wondering what the world could have been and instead begin to dream about what the world can one day become. Let us choose to meet our world as it is, without judgement and prejudice. More importantly, let us choose to meet it with love and hope, knowing that we will see parts of it that are not beautiful. Perhaps if we simply learn to forgive the world its flaws, we might learn to love it enough to see its beauty.