I follow the United Nations on Twitter (@UN), and it has made me realize how many big UN events go totally unrecognized here in the United States. When I saw notifications about the upcoming International Youth Day 2015 (Wednesday, August 12th), I thought maybe it was a new thing they are doing to match up with a new set of initiatives they are taking on. Nope, it has been around since 2000, covering a number of topics and amassing huge international support, with an impressive number of events going on around the globe. In fact, here is the map the UN put out showing every IYD 2015 event. Click that link, it opens in a new tab. Look at the map for a minute, and tell me if you notice anything.
Do you see a pretty large area of the map which is fairly void of pin drops? Overlay the country boarders and you will see that there are only 7 events in the United States, one of which is a Twitter chat that just happens to be located at the UN building in New York City. Are you kidding me? There are over 74 million people under the age of 18 in the United States (census bureau data from 2010). Thats right. 74 million people. To be fair, let’s take out everyone under 5, because they probably don’t really know what “civic engagement” means. That is still 54 million people who, might I add, are currently not in school, doing whatever summer things adolescents do (it has been too long, I don’t remember). Unless they want to travel to New York City, Forty Myers, Little Rock, Dallas, Irvine, or San Diego, there are no opportunities to participate in a UN event that is hugely popular around the world.
The really cliche thing to say is that “our young people are our future”, but honestly, if we don’t invest anything in making them better global citizens, how do we expect them to become leaders? We need to get people talking about IYD the same way we need to get people talking about other big international movements going on. We are an economically globalized country, and it is time to become socially globalized as well. Stop looking at the rest of the world in terms of aid dollars or trade exports, and start looking at the fact that 88% of the world’s population doesn’t live in the United States. If we teach our children that being a part of “something bigger than yourself” just means being a patriotic American, then I think we are missing the point. Today, more than ever, we are all global citizens, and there is no way to go back to isolationist thinking.
So what can we do? How about in 2016 we organize the biggest push for IYD the United States has ever seen. How about instead of leaving it to a handful of youth activism groups around the country we all participate in lifting up and empowering our youth to be thoughtfully engaged in the world in which they live. If you want to talk about returns, think about the social capital that is raised by doing things like this. Our young people will make better leaders, more willing to take on global issues, which builds our international economy and society, and strengthens the ties between the United States and the rest of the world. I think that is worth it in the end, don’t you?
I will celebrate IYD 2015, I will tweet about it, I will tell people about it, and I will make sure that next year there is at least one American news outlet trying to talk about this, even in the heat of the election cycle.
I want to hear from you! What do you think we could do in 2016 to celebrate IYD? What events would you like to see happening, and who should sponsor them? Let me know in the comments!
