Today's Reality

This Book Is Dedicated

To The Youths That Are Supposed To Be Our Future.

Prologue

Technology is great. It has made life easier and interesting. There are new industries rising and obtaining an education is possible on laptops because of it. Technology has made life digital. But where is the limit? Where is the finish line? Everyone considers development to be great and a way to make life convenient, but in reality if you look around, all you will see are robots. That's the development of humankind heading towards too.

Chapter 1

Technology is great and I personally love it as well. However, when I walk down the hallway of my school, everyone is looking at their small rectangular piece of technology called a smartphone. Rarely does anyone look up to smile or greet people. Furthermore, in class when the teacher is ready to begin the lesson, the majority of students have their attention focused on their phones. Their reasons for this range from “I gotta text back” or “I received a message from him” to even “She just posted a picture of her, see how beautiful she is.” Not many care about what the teacher is showing the class as they are too busy on their phones. Is this development for the better? As my favorite time of the day, lunchtime rolls around, I walk down to the cafeteria and finally see people talking with each other. This makes me feel better as I can see people communicating and not completely focused on their phones. Yet, all I hear is “Did you see what she wore?” “She looked like a slut.” or “My breasts are not big enough.” What did our conversation get to? All we youths can do is either gossip about someone else or somehow make our body look better. Where did the jokes that were funny and respectful of limits go? Where did having fun and enjoying the time go? As all humans, when I go to the washroom all I can see is girls smoking and vaping and gossiping. I can’t even do my business in peace. While I am in the washroom all I hear are things like “I hate her. She is such a whore” or “she is trying so hard, she could never be it.” Finally, it’s the end of the day and I get to go home. Everyone starts coming in taking their seats and the teacher is ready to teach again with a smile on her face but all I see is a teacher who is trying her best to get the students attention while the students are on their phones. When the teacher gets angry and tells the students to put their phones away, the students listen but then they start to become rude. They over talk the teacher and they don’t do the work they get. Where is our manners? Our respect for elders? Our respect for the teacher that is here working and always teaching us something new? What happened to enjoying class? When class does finally end and we all are about to leave, in the morning everyone was too busy and acting cool on their phone so they did not say good morning but when we leave, we do say goodbye but everyone rushes out, not even a single person says “have a good day”. When did we get so rude? It is not necessary to say “hello” and “good morning” everyday but it is also not necessary to stay on your phone all day and be rude to the teachers. Back in 2015, I remembered especially in the spring, whenever I got home after school before going inside me and my friends used to play hide and seek, tag, or manhunt and that went almost everyday. It was so fun being outside in the fresh air and socializing. But now when I look outside, I see no one. No playing, running, or laughing. Adults on the porch drinking and laughing, talking with neighbors. Those were some of my favorite memories. Yes time changes but then why does it feel so dead outside? Why is it so quiet? I remember, when I tried making new friends it was so easy and friendly. Everyone loved to have friends and socialize but now when I try, it’s hard. Everyone nowadays gives me uneasy looks, makes the conversation weird, and it’s just difficult and for this reason I have social anxiety. Now, yes time, people, and lifestyle does change for everyone but it should change for the better not for the worse. Right?

Chapter 2

When you go out what do you see? All I see is garbage. Someone's wrapper on the grass, a cardboard box on the hills, someone's juice box on the sidewalk, and many other disgusting leftovers. When you go by a beach, what do you see? All I see are plastic straws, bags, and utensils floating in the water. When did we get so lazy that we can’t throw our own garbage in the garbage bin? Why are we trying to ruin the beauty of this earth? There are news and organizations that are trying to spread awareness regarding what happens to the water and the animals. If we litter, many animals die and I have seen many pictures come up on the news of how the animals, such as birds, squirrels, raccoons, fishes, and more die. Until now, no one cares and the amount of litter is still increasing. Why? People that litter don’t care, fine. But when you walk down a street or go to the beach and when you see litter do you pick it up or do you ignore it just like how we are all ignoring the news? Garbage on earth results in wildlife getting killed by it. They get themselves wrapped around or they swallow it and die. Garbage in the water, especially plastic, has this chemical called Nurdel and it releases toxic chemicals in the water that hundreds of fishes and birds die from. Where is the action? Where is the change? We are ruining ourselves but we are also ruining nature. The wildlife has done nothing to us, not a single harm, so why do we harm them? We are killing the earth, slowly and horribly. Where is the justice? When will it end? When will the abuse be over? The development of human kind is increasing rapidly. You can see it all around you but where is the limit of using nature? Houses and factories are being built, trees are being cut down, chemicals are being released in the oceans, and many other horrifying acts are happening. This is not right because how would you feel if someone barged into your house, messed up your home, tortured you, and then left without cleaning or finding a solution but just said sorry. How would you actually feel? That is the same thing we are doing to mother nature, this earth. Just because it does not speak back does not mean there are no consequences. I miss those times when I used to go out, the nature was bright and had life. It was all colorful but now it’s dull when I go outside. We may have accepted to ruin ourselves but why our nature. In history we even faced the consequences of messing up nature, like tsunamis, earthquakes, water level rising, and earth surface warming up and it is still happening. When will we learn our lesson?

Chapter 3

“An eighteen year old and his two friends were drunk driving and lost control of their car. All three of them are dead.” ''Shooting happened in a mall. This boy was a nineteen year old who was in a gang and was taking revenge. With that 4 others were injured.” “Found a girl on highway 410, she overdosed on drugs. She was just eighteen.” “Earth’s surface is warming, global warming is increasing and no one knows what to do.” “Oil pipeline failed and tons of oil spilled on the Pacific coast. Many birds and fishes died and their bodies came up the shore”. “A father stabbed his own kids then stabbed himself. They are all declared dead. The reason is unknown”. ''Afghanistan is now ruled by the Taliban. Afghan people are facing famine.” “In Madagascar, drought is increasing which is causing famine”. Any channel you turn on, these are the types of news you will hear for the whole day. Everyday deaths are increasing either by car accidents, drugs, shootings, or famine. If we look on a global scale, millions die, not from natural causes however, but rather from causes that could have been helped and avoided. but didn't receive the help they needed. We all have enough supplies where we are having trouble sharing. Our greed will be our death. We always want more and more. When is it enough? When do we reach our limit? When did we all turn into robots, that we are ignoring everything, even our own safety and others' lives? When did we become so heartless? We hear the news, then we ignore it or we blame it on others because that's easy to do but in reality, before you blame others, see what you are doing to help. It is not always about what you can do, sometimes it’s about who you can listen to. Sometimes, people need someone to just listen to them. Maybe the person who overdosed on drugs was because they did not have anyone to share their feelings with so they had enough or someone was drinking and driving because they felt suicidal but they did not have the strength to do it soberly so they got drunk and took the dangerous way. In life, if there is a situation you can’t help, then just listen because for you, it might be a ten minute conversation but for someone else, it can be the only reason to continue living. We have stopped doing and now we also stopped listening.

Chapter 4

School, to the outside world, to the whole world. Everything is messed up. Who did it? Who caused this mess? Influencers? Bad tempered individuals? Influencers who we see as role models? Many influencers come on ads and talk about how it’s cool to act a certain way, to be skinny, to have big breasts, to use the latest model of smartphone, and to speak with slang. We also get influenced that it is cool to joke around with someone's feelings when in reality, it is not cool at all and it’s just simply rude. At times, we do not realize when we pass the boundary. People with bad tempers usually take the wrong path of joining a gang, bullying, drugs, alcohol, and more. The reason for those individuals who do this is usually someone who doesn't have someone to talk to or get made fun of their feelings so they choose to be “cool” and ‘dangerous”. In reality, it is not cool and you are just making a fool out of yourself. Everyday, we are being robots. A robot to do what the latest trend is, to buy the trending clothes, to have popular friends, to meet society’s expectations, to please everyone around, to ignore problems that will cause bigger issues, and to come under pressure. When did we become dumb? We are turning a blind eye to all the problems because it is not our problem? Well, soon all this will be everyone's problem so why wait when we can do something now? Why leave it on someone else when you can actually be the change? Why wait? We need to understand the line between reality and robots. Reality is dying, we are becoming less human and more robotic. We function if we get a command but we don’t have to work like this, we don’t have to please everyone around us, we don’t have to get on with the latest trend.

Chapter 5

Social media is one of the biggest platforms to display anything. Your business, your new puppy, or the new car that your parents gifted you. But when was the last time you posted about an issue that needs the public or the government’s attention? Social media has actually taken up all of our life because we have this urge, this need where we have to post everything that happens in our life: from a broken arm to a new car.When was the last time you met someone, like your friend, face to face and gave the news to them in person and not over text? Social media was a form of entertainment at first but now it’s part of our life and we can not live without it. Our life has become digital now. The companies who make these types of software applications only care about the money they get but when will you realize this software has a control over your life way too much then it should be? Our life is in this one device where we are not realizing that it has gone past the limit. Where we are dependable on it. I’m not saying we should throw out our phones but rather to reduce that usage and see the beauty of nature and Earth that we are ruining each day. When you wake up, you have to check the phone for any messages. Waiting for the bus, phone is in your hand checking social media or YouTube. Waiting for your friend to join you in the hallway, gotta check your phone to not look lonely. Everywhere you go and everywhere you look, we are like robots commanded to check our phones every time we are alone or waiting. What happened to social interactions? Technology has consumed so much of our life that nothing looks or feels fine without your phone or your computer. When will we start to realize this?

Chapter 6

We are the future. The future that is on our phones all day, drugs, alcohol, and rough driving. All we do is not listen to others and if they talk too much they are “stupid” or “they don’t understand anything.” Let’s be honest, 2005 and the generation after that are really the ones who are messed up. We don’t listen, we are greedy and always want more, we can’t stand it if someone is doing better or looking better, we need the latest phone or computer, and we will do anything to look and be cool in front of others. When does this end? When does this stop? I see no future if we continue to do this. This world will be a war zone and all about survival because you never know who you made mad or jealous. There is no respect, patience, or kindness in this world. Even if you honk at someone who has rough driving and was about to hit you, you never know what they can pull out. A gun, knife, it could be anything. When an elder is trying to teach you the right thing, we don’t have any respect for them because “They are old. They don’t understand our state” and “They don’t know how we feel”. When in reality, they were also once your age. They are trying to give you the knowledge they wish someone could give them when they were your age. When was the last time you hugged your parents and thanked them for everything they got and did for you? We can not be the future until we change and no one knows when that will happen but it will not be soon, that is for sure. Personally, I am sorry for the upcoming kids who will not experience what we still have, which is some kindness and respect but that is slowly dying just like nature. When others say “youths have the power to change this world”. It is not wrong, we do have the power but we don’t use it. Is it because we don't have the time? Or are we that lazy? It’s really easy to blame others when in reality the real blame goes to us youths. We are not an exact fit to be a role model for others then what do we expect back?

Chapter 7

If these situations continue to grow like this then imagine this future, hearing this on the news. “Guns have been legal for everyone because no one is safe without one now”. “When driving remember to put on your seatbelt, you will never know what hit you. The seat belt might save you”. “Any type of drugs can be accessed at your local convenience stores”. “The last school has closed down. Now you can learn from home on your computer”. “The pacific ocean is now filled with toxic chemicals and all the ocean life is now dead”. “Littering has increased to a level where the garbage on the floor is causing a problem in breathing not just for the wildlife but for humans as well”. “Four teens have been kidnapped. Human trafficking is increasing to unbelievable levels”. “ All in North Africa, they are facing famine. Millions are dying”. “Afghanistan is now finished. Not a single soul is alive there”. This actually can be our reality and it does not look like it is too far from today according to the activists, and the media of today. This is the downfall of our world and we did not do anything because we were too busy in ourselves that when we heard the cries of humans and animals we ignored them. This is the downfall of humanity, peace, kindness, respect, and humans. What will it actually take for us to step up, to fight back? We youths need to do something and we need to maintain the peace and kindness in this world. Why is it so wrong or uncool to be kind, to be respectful, to be social, to have feelings, to help others? How long are you willing to wait to do something? Procrastinating on your school work is fine but showing procrastination on someone's life is horrible, wrong, and uncool. How would you feel if in the world there is someone to help you easily but they are ignoring you back and don’t care? They might be no one to you but there one action could help.

Chapter 8

Believe it or not we still have time to turn this around, to make a change. You don’t have to do something big. All you need to do is be a little more respectful, show a little more kindness, pick up litter more, see the problem in over using something, listen a little more, and believe a little more. Just doing this can make a big change. Humanity will still be alive and if there is humanity then there's hope and if there is hope then there is a chance to make things better and save people. It does not cost anything to be kind. It might just take a few minutes from your life and that is all. What seems really small for you might be someone's solution in living or the cause to believe again. So let’s not be the generation of the downfall and let's rise together. We all are in this together so let's stand side by side and help each other, that's the real beauty in humanity. When you can help anyone and not actually have a reason other than kindness. Let's be the future. Let's be the future of change, of humanity, of peace.

Final

Hope you guys liked this short story. I will be editing this and make it longer and if I get good response then I might publish it in hard copy soon. Please do rea, vote, and tell others. This book is very important for me to tell others and give this message to others so please help me out.

Thank you,

Muskaan Sharma