Lemonade 5 cents
MICHAEL SILICZ, STAFF
Let’s face it: many students on campus just don’t care about the education they receive. They’re here for a degree. They’re here to get a job. Or perhaps they’re just here to party. All too often, students like this across Canada dismiss their education as nothing more than an extension of high school. They see education as a right, yet do not stop to consider the responsibilities that come along with education. If you are one such person, and have no interest in reflecting deeply on the future of the society in which we live, then I would like you to please stop reading and flip to the sudoku.
This article is for those who do care about the future of our society. It’s for those who are concerned about Western democracies, and the liberalism they practice domestically but only preach internationally. It is, quite frankly, for those people who actually do give a shit about the world in which we live. It’s for those out there who are educated, well-versed citizens who are concerned gravely about the medium-to-long term future of our society. This article is written especially for those of you who are looking for answers about how to make a difference, but realize that recycling, riding your bike, and “flicking off” are not going to cut it. But most of all, this article is for the very few who will actually make it out of here and earn position of power in which to make a tangible impact.
The internationally disputed Northwest Passage has become navigable for commercial activity. The price of oil will continue to rise exponentially as demand continues to outpace supply. The Earth’s climate is changing — fast. There’s even a chance that maps and globes the world over will be obsolete in the next few decades, as the very geography of the earth changes. With all these potential geopolitical disruptions occurring as we speak, it looks as though life’s going to be throwing us a lot of lemons in the future. For the sake of culture, and the way of life that our forefathers worked (and fought) so hard to build, maintain, and expand, we had better damn well be ready to make some lemonade.
Our generation lives in the calm before the storm. In the science of politics, international relations are conducted in a realm where there is nothing to stop war from happening between nation-states. Our modest attempts to change this have been helpful (the UN), but such actions are inherently inadequate due to the nature of the international system, where nation-states answer to no one, save each other’s forceful coercion. It is with a sober sense of realism in mind that we must accept this coming anarchy.
So, while we all continue to struggle through school while working our terrible jobs, never forget why we are here. Education is a privilege, not a right; and with rights come responsibilities. Remember that education is not an instant ticket to success. Rather, it is a long-term
Our purpose, rather, is to come up with solutions of how to save the world of tomorrow
investment in both ourselves and the future of the society in which we live. It’s not about what we do now; it’s about what we’ll be doing in the future. It is going to come down to us in 20 to 30 years from now. Our parents will be out of the equation. And how will we answer the call?
Because we are privileged enough to attend university, we all have a duty. You and I, we’re the vanguard of our society. We hold the keys to the realm of democracy. We are the gatekeepers. Taken in context of our brethren in other democracies, we are the guardians of Western civilization and its values of liberalism. We are the stewards to the historical legacy of a culture that purged itself of the illiberal ideologies of monarchism, authoritarianism, communism, socialism, and fascism. Yet what is now being done to protect all that the West has won?
Nothing. All politicians do is sit around, endlessly squabbling over the minutia of lemons. Lemons, lemons, and more lemons: the lemons of how much each country should reduce its carbon output by, the lemons of how we can use more oil without paying for its negative externalities, and the lemons of spreading democracy by gun barrels to the rest of the world. When will those in charge today wake up and actually take the initiative and lead?
And therein lies the point: they won’t.
It will be left to us — you and me. The whole point of our university system is to equip us during our optimistic and impressionable youths with the ideals of what our society stands for. Then, when just enough of us make it into important positions of power, hopefully we will have remembered enough to make a difference, and not forget what we’ve learned.
Our hope lies not in thinking of ways to stop or slow the problems of today. No. It’s already too late for that. Rather, our responsibility is to use our education to innovate dynamic solutions of how to exist and prosper in the world of tomorrow, all the while reproducing our society materially through capitalism and liberalism. That, quite simply, is our generation’s purpose. Rather than sulk about how our world is going to hell in a hand basket, we need to focus on creative ways of enduring the destruction we face in the medium-term future.
Thus, while our leaders keep stalling, let’s hope that enough of us are right now dreaming up innovative ways to create lemonade from the onslaught of lemons we all too soon will face.
Michael Silicz is the comment editor of the Manitoban, and a student of law and political studies.
