Posted By:
By Annette Ebbinghaus and ChatGPT!
We are speaking to you
from the future you once feared
we might not have.
We are the teenagers you worried about,
the generation searching your faces for evidence that hope was still reasonable.
You told us
it was going to be okay.
But what gave those words meaning was what you did next.
You listened across differences.
You stayed curious when it was easier to judge.
You understood that working together did not require us to be the same.
You stepped up.
Sometimes for an hour,
sometimes for a neighbour,
sometimes for someone
whose name you never knew.
You made volunteering
as ordinary and essential
as brushing your teeth,
a daily act of care
for the health of us all.
Connection softened loneliness.
Purpose gave strength to hope.
Service reminded us
that we mattered, were needed,
and none of us was ever truly alone.
You showed us adults
could help right the ship
while leaving room
for young hands at the helm.
That is how we found our way.
We did not need you
to save the world for us.
We needed you to show us that each of us
had a part to play.
Not because any one of you could do it alone,
but because you came together,
each offering what you could,
and asked:
How can I step up?
You wondered whether we were listening.
We were.
You worried about the world you
would leave behind.
But because you stepped up,
we learned to step up too.
So thank you.
Thank you for doing more
than telling us not to worry.
Thank you for showing us
what courage looked like
in ordinary clothes.
The future is still here,
because you understood
it was never somewhere
you were simply travelling towards.
It was something
you were volunteering to build.