This was a slogan that got famous during a protest by some young people hungry for change. How powerful this quote is. I personally, too, believe that teenagers have the ability to inspire and improve the lives of others. When we debate on something, we are required to take into account all the aspects related to it. It’s true that power is a great entity. With power in hand, not only your state but you can change the whole world but there is one more power that surpasses it and that is the power of willingness and determination. Humans are given some unique powers and maybe this is why only humans in the world have the power to understand the passage of events and feel the needs and pain of others.

There has always been a great amount of debate on whether a single person has the power to change the world or can leave an influence on the world. My answer, regarding this debate, is yes.

Whenever I doubt my capabilities that can leave an influence on other’s life, I recall, to collect strength, one name and that is Abdul Sattar Edhi– also known as ‘Angel of Mercy’. Very fewer people know that Abdul Sattar Edhi started exerting his influence on this world just at the age of 19. At 19 you are just a teenager, right. Edhi is revered as a national hero by many. He did not belong to a royal or rich family nor did he have a powerful support of someone. At the age of 19 when he migrated to Pakistan, he had nothing accept the power of his will. He felt that a change is needed in the environment he is living in. From a small pharmacy to a multi-million dollar enterprise (Abdul Sattar Edhi foundation), he revealed that anything is possible if you have the intention or will to do so. It’s true that whenever you hear the world teenager, all the words that come to your mind are lazy, self-centered, non-serious etc. Surely it’s an age like that but it’s a life-changer time too, not only for the person but for his surrounding too. Daniel J. Siegel in his book ‘Brainstorm’ says that if we treat teenagers with the respect and understanding they deserve, they are more likely to live up to their greatest capacities’. According to him, during adolescence, a person learn great things how to get connected to the world and with other people, how to make decisions and how to take risks and be intrepid. Every person is born with a skill but, unfortunately, not everyone uses it. Every person is born with a skill but, unfortunately, most of us shy away from practicing and polishing it.

As Stephen king once said, ‘Talent is never static. It’s always growing or dying’.

Talent or skill has nothing to do with someone’s being rich, white or different. And the best age to bring out your talent and to discover it for a person is his youth age. The mind of a youth works more than any other people. Along with the person himself, it’s the responsibility of the parents to help their kids in discovering it. Besides helping them in acquiring educational skills, it is incumbent upon the parents, teachers, and society as a whole to help them in finding their talents. Shireen and Hassan Zafar, a sibling duo, in Karachi, started with teaching 10 students have come a long way as they have finally set up two more street schools there. Seeing the passion of the siblings for spreading education among poor children, many other teens came forward to help them. The brother and sister are working without any governmental support and just with the power of their will to spread education among poor children. Similarly, in the winters of 2015, young Iranians came up with the idea of ‘Wall of Kindness’. The wall symbolized unity rather than separation. It is the wall where people leave clothes and essential things for poor. The idea of this wall spread across right away. The young Iranians wanted to strengthen the bond between the communities. Their small act which at one side helped the poor also became a model for other countries to adopt. It drove people and provided them with a chance to do more for humanity. Like always, when you find yourself stuck with an issue, history of leaders not only guides you but also provides you positive energy to do something.We can do so many things, in fact, everything without any power too. Let’s take an example of Frederick Douglass, a widely known personality of History. An African-American social reformer, abolitionist, writer, orator, and statesman but before that, he was a slave who worked on farms. Because he was a slave he did not learn from any school. He tried to escape many times but failed. Finally, at the age of 20, he managed to escape far away. His life was totally miserable, separated from the mother when he was an infant, at the age of seven he had to leave his grandmother too, was beaten many times but never lost hope. He learned on his own and after escaping he wrote so many books, gave so many speeches, worked for women rights and most of all abolished slavery with the support of only his wife and friend. He was not a ruler, not rich, not even educated from an institute but somehow his concern for the slaved-ones created a significant impact on the world.

The power of youth can never be harnessed. It’s like a gushing stream or a mighty river which follows its course no matter how big are the obstacles in its way. Similarly, the energetic youth can do the greatest of things if used in the right way. Teenage is a make or break period in a person’s life. A teenage life is often filled with pleasant experience or unpleasant but he is gifted with the ability to change the unpleasant condition into pleasant one and to learn from it. Although the time this generation is living in is very different from the past, today the generation of youth is most interrelated than ever, today they are provided with more opportunities and facilities than ever and it is also today that the trials being faced by this generation are the most frightening ever. But at the same time, it is also true that no one can dare to face or solve these challenges than the youth itself.