DREAM CITY 2020: High-schoolers possess potential to change world

EDITOR'S NOTE
This is the sixth in a series of columns about the future of the Pikes Peak region written by community leaders and visionaries. It's part of the community initiative Dream City: Vision 2020. See www.dreamcity2020.com.


If only we could see the future. Our disasters could be averted, our sorrows could be explained, and our joys could perhaps be magnified. If only ... unfortunately such a luxury cannot be grasped in this life, and thus we are left simply to dream of what the future may hold for us.

My hopes are great and my ideas are many.

Looking within my own generation, I see talent in so many ways. Some of the greatest thinkers, musicians, leaders, and artists I know have yet to graduate from high school.

What would we be capable of if we embraced all that we have been given? By the time the year 2020 arrives, we could have already changed the very face of Colorado Springs.

We're often called a generation of apathy, a group of video game-playing, iPod-blasting kids who will never amount to much; I defy that stereotype right now. I say that we can be the much-needed transformation in a darkening world if only we choose to act.

We are our community's future.

We can wipe out homelessness and poverty, find the cure for cancer and other devastating diseases, eliminate gang violence and drug addictions, and do away with promiscuity and an ever-rising abortion rate. By deciding to be passionate about being involved and making a change, together we can make Colorado Springs, the nation, even the world the place it was meant to be.

What if we did it? What if?

Some may call such expectations foolish or impractical, but I say life is worth little if we never once dare to wish for the impossible. The potential is there, my friends; all we have to do is have the courage to chase after it.