A Journey To Improve
EF SPEECH
What are your hopes for the future of your society?
When you think about the future, many emotions can come to you, you might feel afraid, you might feel confident, lost, or excited. But one thing is sure and is that everyone has a different perspective about it.
Now it is time to present myself, cause you might be thinking who is she and why does she ask herself such a complex question? My name is Valeria Villera Flórez, and I’m 16 years old, I’m in step 9 at American School in Barranquilla, Colombia.
In my case, I can’t think about the future without taking into account our present, what’s really happening around us, because there are many issues currently affecting our world, there’s a constant puzzle and differences among ideologies, leading to political conflicts and discriminations, a global challenge that concerns us all, because we were the ones who provoked it.
But now there’s so little time to stop it, there are children, women and men in this moment living in inhumane conditions, there are innocent civilians suffering from a war because of greedy, there are kids taken so wrongly and being treated in ways that humiliated their integrity and innocence, and the absolutely worse is that these conflicts aren’t new, I consider that the fact that I'm a teen in the 21st century is not a coincidence, I was born in the perfect time and with a purpose, and being honest, I personally don’t want to live in a bubble that might protect me from the outside reality, I want to see, want to be conscious, I want to do a change.
A change... That’s exactly what this planet needs, it needs more love, more empathy, it needs actions and the most importantly, humanity.
It can get frustrating sometimes to think that even when you
Now, what do I aspire for the future?, which is not only mine, and is not ours. The future is for the whole world, despite societies, preferences, looks, religions, or nationalities, the future is not only for the humans, but for the animals too, those who are right now being affected by our varied industries, at what price, for money? Luxury?
Are we putting at risk species because of coats? The future is not only for human beings and animals, but for the nature too, which is the one that truly belongs to the Earth, the beautiful planet, as well as those abiotic factors as rocks, ice, air, those who make up our paradises.
In that way I really aspire the world’s population to be more awaken, to be together, and show more EMPATHY. I want YOU to stop for a second, whenever you can, and think about what you have in your life, put what’s wrong aside, your worries, and then look around and you’ll realise there’s always gonna be something you’re thankful for, or perhaps something that will keep you going, those things are the ones you should appreciate it with all your heart, same happens with the Earth in this journey to improve, since everything matters, everything has a value and everyone deserves respect.
I know many people consider our planet “special” cause we have “life”.
On the other hand, I consider that there’s such a big universe out there and everything is possible; therefore, considering us as the ONLY race that has the miracle of life is something quite selfish in such a wide space, but I do think that we are lucky, lucky and blessed that our planet has certain conditions that can let us survive for decades, but I think we are not really taking advantage of that opportunity.
You have reasoning, you have the power, you have a VOICE, use it. And let others use theirs too, the thing You just need to understand, is that you are CAPABLE of doing whatever you want in this world, but PLEASE, make sure is something that can help us and not drown us.
By Valeria Villera, Step 9
