Its pretty easy to think about the world and be cynical. I know at my age I can certainly write a list of the people who have let me down.
But we all know selling despair, ruminating on the people you wished hadn’t crossed your path and on what could have been gets us nowhere. On the other hand selling hope and focusing on a bright future by engaging and working with the people who share your vision keeps the fire burning in our bellies
I keep the fire burning in my belly by surrounding myself with exciting young people. Young people in schools, young farmers and young activists for social and environmental justice .
Last Friday night I attended the NSW ACT Young Achiever Awards to support Young Farming Champions Anika Molesworth and Joshua Gilbert who were both finalists in the Environment and Sustainability Category
Anika Molesworth Winner of the Environment and Sustainability Award
Millennials and the generation before them don’t exactly get the best wrap and are often described as self absorbed . Reading the bios of the finalists in all categories certainly drew everyone’s attention to a group of young people and their support networks who are turning the self absorbed label on its head.
Why theses young people do what they do and how they do it is both fascinating and inspiring. Last year’s winner in the opening speech said something that gave me food for serious reflection. This young lady is a very passionate member of AYCC who lobbied their peers to sign up and vote at the last election. She quoted some phenomenal numbers as a testimony to their success.
She expressed her motivation by saying something along the lines of “politicians don’t care about young people and young people don’t care about politicians”. She went on to say part of the mission of AYCC is to show young people how important it is to care about politicians and what they do and don’t stand for and to vote for the one’s that align with their values
Do politicians care about young people.? Do they care about us? I think they do but I can certainly understand why people in general wonder what they do stand for. How do we fix a system where it appears that too many of our politicians only care about the needs of big business and the powerful people and not enough about the quality of life and well being of everyday Australians?.
AYCC have got it right. It’s up to everyday Australians to hold our politicians accountable and that starts with making sure we have the right politicians in office and support fiercely the one’s who align with our values.
Congratulations to Anika Molesworth, a fierce campaigner for #youthinag and the viability and resilience of Australian farmers and social and environmental justice
Anika’s acceptance speech – its easy to see why she is in demand as a keynote speaker
