Congrats on Getting Involved... Kind of

Each week, I rant about apathy and how apparent it is here at Lyndon. I sound like a broken record, but I believe that we as young people can change the future of our country. Each day as I advocate involvement in local government, I continually feel like I am fighting one hell of an uphill battle. This week though, students took the first step to fighting apathy and I think that we can take this to become more socially and politically active. Alright, let me explain.

This past week a campaign entitled Kony 2012 launched its efforts to make the world's most wanted man, Joseph Kony, popular. Kony is the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army that has raped mutilated and killed thousands of civilians in Central Africa. In just two days there have been over 32 million views on a viral YouTube video that describes an effort to unite thousands of college students to encourage the President to continue his support to send troops to aid the Ugandan government in strictly an advisory role.

Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets are exploding with activity about people in support of ending this tyrants control over more than 30,000 children who Kony has turned into soldiers. This man forces these kidnapped children, between the ages of 6 and 15, to kill their own parents and continue on deadly rampages as loyal followers to his movement.

I want to thank every student who has liked or shared this video, because you have taken the first step to defeat apathy and stand up for human rights. Regardless of if you agree with the legitimacy of the organization sponsoring the video, Joseph Kony is a terrible man who should be punished for his crimes. However, at the end of the day you must do more and in fact; YOU CAN!

Social media has empowered our generation to make dramatic changes to the world we live in. However the only generation that currently pays attention to social media is ours. It's time to get the attention of our elected officials. Stop liking a status and write a letter to your congressman. March on Washington and stop being so complacent.

You are making a tremendous first step in sharing and liking content but the honest truth is that when most of our representatives are in their sixties and seventies, they really don't know how to access social media. The real point I am trying to make is that you must do more to achieve the real results that you want, and our world needs you to do more.

There are terrible events currently impacting our world including the massacre that is engulfing Syria as a brutal dictator kills his own people. There are Americans who are drowning in debt and financial hardship that they can't feed their own children. At the end of fiscal year 2011, our gross debt was 14.8 trillion or about 99 percent of our economy. Our total liabilities and unfunded obligations totaled 65.5 trillion dollars. Stand up and tell your elected officials the direction you want your country to travel.

Our generation does not have to be polarized by partisanship politics. We can work together to get the job done not only for Vermont and the United States of America, but also for the entire world. One example is the battles that carry on each and every year in our own Student Government Association. Over the course of the last four years that I've been somewhat involved in the SGA there have been disagreements that have been fairly brutal but at the end of the day, we respect one another. I mean, Justin Chenette and I have never gotten along (except that one time) but I am excited that he is taking a great step in running for state legislature in the state of Maine. We need more community leaders and students to take charge.

It is time to come together and not only embrace the Kony 2012 movement, but also the other problems that are currently facing our world. Get out of your comfort zone and take a stand because if you don't I'm afraid that we will be known as a complacent, lazy generation.