Many of us arrived home from a relaxing winter break vacation to find America’s foreign relations in mayhem. Iran. World War III. A hefty bounty on the head of none other than President Donald J. Trump. 2020 has already had a decent amount of breaking news headlines.

All this goes to show that the world is not a perfect place. This is not new. What is more concerning is the reactions these events have garnered in the youth. 

When the news broke that Trump had ordered the drone strike that killed Soleimani, the Internet was overtaken with a flood of memes. 

When talk of World War III started going around, a somewhat hysterical, but logical fear of the draft shook an entire generation of young adults.

When nuclear war entered the conversation, it was instantly added to a teenager’s growing list of anxieties. 

In summary, we experience the world in extremes. Whether it is complete desensitivity or hypersensitivity, the youth’s reaction to the state of the world says much about the future of the world. Everyone has an opinion on what country is in the wrong or how one man’s actions doomed an entire nation, but the truth is very few of us actually know what we are talking about. Our opinions change as fast as America’s relationship with North Korea, and it’s because we do not see the full picture. We spend our time making or looking at hilarious memes but never stop to check if they are accurate. 18 year olds who have had the opportunity and still never voted love to jump into conversations about politics and who should be the next president. 

We take full advantage of our privilege as the youth to judge the world’s problems, assuming that they are for those older than us; however, the day when those problems become ours is creeping upon us. There are no training wheels for being an informed member of society. Every news site and platform is at our fingertips. The reality we live in is one in which if you want to have an opinion, you have the means to be able to back it up.