"Me and all my friends
we're all misunderstood
they say we stand for nothing and
there's no way we ever could
now we see everything that's going wrong
with the world and those who lead it we just feel like we don't have the means
to rise above and beat it
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change.”
By John Mayer



When I was little I was glued to the T.V. Everyday I sat at home and gazed at anything and everything: cartoons, the Discovery channel, MTV, and the news. People dying. Global warming. Kids drinking. These were some of the dreadful things I witnessed; however, I perceived reality as entertainment. I told my mom that I was going to be super-woman and solve every problem in the world. Not only did I end up not saving the world, I did absolutely nothing to help it. Similarly, my generation remains inert. Lying to ourselves and believing that we have no control over our lives, we prolong our action. Ghandi once said, “Be the change you want to see in the world;” pitifully, my generation does the opposite: It embraces passivity.

Our need to conform to society is a passport to our passivity. With a generation full of stereotypes and clichés we feel we must follow, the craving to create positive change is diminished. From bleached blonde hair to smoking a joint, we make the choice to “fit in” instead of being proactive. We are “waiting on the world to change”. Humanity has little faith that my generation could break society’s boundaries and transform our passivity into action. Thomas Jefferson once said, “Every generation needs a new revolution.” Forget revolution, my generation probably does not even know what that word means. We just do whatever we need to “fit in” and “be cool” and that’s all we care about. This desire to become clones of each other gets us nowhere; therefore, we remain passive.

Not only can we not think on our own, but also we get everything we want. Spoiled and pampered, we are oblivious to the chaos happening around us. Due to unnecessary luxuries, my generation is self-absorbed. We do nothing. Given everything we demand, we remain inert. Always wanting, always begging, always whining – we have no concern for anyone but ourselves. A generation full of egocentricity forces us to sit on our butts and think solely of ourselves. Thomas Brown, a teacher at University of South Carolina says, “Will the most self-centered, self-absorbed, self-important and just plain selfish generation in history ever stop whining and just grow up?” The answer is no. My generation- that whines when we do not have our own cell phone, that cries when we receive no allowance, or that bellyaches about not getting a new car- encompasses passivity with our self-absorption. We are still “waiting on the world to change.”

Along with our egocentricity, my generation’s laziness sparks our passivity. Today teen’s hobbies are anything but proactive. Playing Nintendo, watching television, surfing on the net – my generation is addicted to everything but action. With such close-minded interests, how can we be proactive? This lethargic generation is busy with pointless interests that we hardly notice any outside conflict. Jules Renard, a French author, once said, “Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. Yet it seems as if we are always resting. Not active but stagnant. Not mending but breaking. Not heeding but disregarding. My generation is so lazy that all we care about is new friend requests on Myspace. We’re not tired any longer, we’re just plain lazy.

Besides our laziness, my generation is preoccupied defying, instead of changing, the world. Dictionary.com defines defiance as, “a daring or bold resistance to authority or to any opposing force.” This could be drinking, doing drugs, or any number of “fun” things. By doing this so-called fun, my generation not only numbs themselves to the world’s problems, but also causes many. We are passive to the consequences that our disrespect might have on other people. Trying to escape from rules and our parents’ commands, we assume we are being adult when our action is actually forcing us into passivity. My generation, as John Mayer would say it, is “misunderstood”. Feeling that we can do nothing to help, we defy - the world, our parents, anything and everything. We justify our actions by saying “we don’t have the means to rise above and beat it [passivity].” Action in our eyes is disobedience; however, this defiance is the basis of our passivity.

No matter how much we listen to John Mayer sing, no matter how much we hear Ghandi’s words, at the end of the day we must make the change. Change laziness, change selfishness, or just change anything at all. If we continue numbing ourselves to the world, nothing will change. Hopefully in the future we will take action; however, for now my generation clings to passivity.

“And we're still waiting
waiting on the world to change
we keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
one day our generation
is gonna rule the population
so we keep on waiting
waiting on the world to change”