Are we the great generation?

Kat Yates ponders whether young people really are apathetic (and gets a frosty reception in a bar whilst she's at it).

''When I listened and accepted Nelson Mandela's challenge to be the ''great generation'', I'm sure I wasn't the only under 25 to be empowered by his words.''

A girl walks into a bar. She spots a guy she knows. She walks over, they exchange pleasantries. "Wanna catch a movie Wednesday?," he asks.
"Busy Wednesday," she replies. "I'm in London helping with the Control Arms campaign".
He rolls his eyes: "What are you protesting about this time?"
"We're asking a number of governments to pledge their support to an International Arms Trade Treaty." she begins, but never gets chance to finish.

Looking bored, the guy walks away mid-sentence, leaving the girl baffled as to what horrific profanity she must have unwittingly uttered to get such an apathetic response. She quietly sips her drink and the conversation moves on.

No, you'll be happy to know this isn't the start of a really bad short story. I was that girl only a few weeks ago, quietly sipping my drink, making a mental note that the next round would certainly not be on me. Insert your own "location" and "guy", and it has probably happened to you, too. This is the youth of today you see - apathetic, selfish, ignorant of the world around them. They are more interested in football than fair trade. All that "poverty" and "aid" stuff - it's just not for them.

But hang on a second - aren't I the youth of today too? I do care about the effect we are having on the planet, and it is important to me that we get an Arms Trade Treaty as soon as possible. What is wrong with me? Am I the exception to the rule? Surely I'm not the only one?

There were 1,000s of young people who marched in Edinburgh at the G8 in 2005. Many more wore white bands and campaigned to Make Poverty History. And, when I listened and accepted Nelson Mandela's challenge to be the "great generation", I am sure I was not the only under 25 to be empowered by his words.

This story has a happy ending. The guy in the bar? He became my focus of attention. I did catch a movie with him in the end. It was called An Inconvenient Truth and it changed his perspective on a lot of things. He is now talking about getting his boss to recycle more and knows the difference between a "carbon footprint" and an "emissions quota".

He could have left the movie theatre and carried on with his life as it was before. But he chose not too. All it took was the smallest of catalysts and a little information to make him want to change the way he lives his life from now on.

It is our responsibility to be that catalyst whenever and wherever we can. We have the information to make small but significant changes to our own lives and those of our peers. We live in a world of magnificence - despite all its problems - and it is person-by-person, friend-by-friend, that we can ensure it stays that way for the next great generation.