Can You Hear Me?

When was the last time one of my concerns was taken seriously. "She's a teenager, so it must not mean much..." they always say. "She can't have very good ideas."
Of course, they would never say this out loud because they are too "polite" to do that, but you can see my ideas being disregarded, even though you know it is a good one. They're missing out.

Recently, when some of my friends and I, had a concern about the use of Styrofoam lunch trays in the lunch room, we wrote a letter to the vice principal of the middle school, Mrs. Brenda Harrington. Of course, we haven't heard back from her, and in the mean time, tons of waste is leaving this school everyday, polluting our earth.

We suggested having only the reusable trays available, or recycled paper trays which are less harmful to our environment. There is absolutely no need for us to be encouraging waste and pollution. I feel bad every time I see one of those Styrofoam trays being used, because someone is too lazy to put some trays in a dishwasher or even worse, have to wash them by hand. We are all suffering for the actions of a few people.

I often notice that our voices are not considered valid because we are young, and haven't lived as long, but everyone has good ideas, and it is not fair to think that it is only the adults that can do something good for the earth. Need I mention all of the mistakes adults have made? What about all of the irrational things adults have done, that children and teenagers have protested against to help protect our society?
There are so many wonderful things that teenagers and children have taken into their own hands, and every little thing they have done, have made this earth that much better.

It is time people take a minute to see that teenagers can really make a difference, if you give us a chance.