This week we talked with teenagers. It turns out that one of their superpowers is their voice, variations on which we are hearing clear and strong.
Their generation, Gen Z, took hold of the moment after 17 people were killed in a school in Parkland, Florida. They looked out and saw the adults were, as always, sad and angry but strangely paralyzed. We weren’t moving and we have been the opposite of a movement. So teens are using their networks to organize marches and protests, to get the word out about gun control and climate change and other issues through social media.
The teens we talked with so strongly believe they can change the world that they give themselves no other option but to make it happen.
A teenager told me at the March 14 student walkout this week, where thousands of teens marched with signs and chants to our city’s capital, the kids were in charge while the adults stood at the sidelines, taking photos, encouraging them along the way. Maybe that can be one of our superpowers, listening to the teens.
Write to us a listen@ttbook.org. What’s your superpower?
—Shannon