Emerging Hope for the Bright Future of Equality

“The torch has been passed to a new generation.” The wise words of John. F Kennedy. As the shadow of our predecessors lengthens and the time for a new generation to take our parents place draws near we must consider what type of society that we want to be a part of. My hope is that I can help create a society that I can be proud of, we may have a long and hard journey ahead of us but together we can develop a society which our children and their children can be proud of, but first we must address the issues left to us from the previous generation.

118 years. 118 years since the vote, in the year 1900, the vote which finally recognised women as no longer second class citizens but full members of society within Australia. This was the vote that finally allowed women the right to vote and unofficially gave them the equal rights that men have enjoyed since the dawn of time. Yet 118 years later, women are still fighting for the basic right to be equal, 118 years later women are still trying to change the archaic mindset of those that are frozen in time, 118 years later our generation is faced with the issues and out cries for help from movements such as #metoo. 118 years later and for the first time in history we have the chance to make a change.

As Martin Luther King put it, “We refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.” The fierce urgency with which equality needs to be met is being ignorantly ignored. There are many present opportunities to make a change but, they are either ignored or misguided. Movements such as the #metoo are aimed at recruiting and changing the minds of those who are still frozen in time although, they appear to create a divide within society where we have those that are either strong supporters of the movement or are whole heartedly against the movement. Instead of unifying and strengthening our society for the climb to the summit of the mountain of change they only serve to hinder our progress. With the summit within sight some are using the influence of these movements to cause landslides that wash away all of our progress over years of blood, sweat and tears.

We must not rest even though storms ravage the mountain and hinder our progress, we must not be discouraged. Even though there are difficult times today I still have a hope for tomorrow. We must no longer walk this path alone, we must not turn back and we must only look to towards the future, for this is the era of change. For the first time in history black men and women can stand next to white men and women and say, we are the same. For the first time in history gay people are widely accepted into our society. For the first time in history we have a chance to abolish the oppression of women, a hope beyond all hope that is within sight.

Let us, both men and women join, hand in hand and crest the mountain of change, let us no longer see the suffrage of people within our society because of an uncontrollable circumstance. Let us run the last leg of our journey and crest the mountain of change together where we can finally rest, where we can look out from this peak and admire the view, the view of a society that is one to be proud of and the view of other mountains that we can conquer. Let us no longer participate in the time old tradition of passing down to the next generation the issues of the past. Together let’s develop a society where our children are able to climb their own mountains and are no longer forced to endure the torment of the mountain that our generation failed to climb. I want them to be able to look back at the mountain that we struggled up and to say, “Wow, the view is amazing.”