In these times of change, I cannot help but to reflect on society as a whole, which inevitably

requires me to project myself into the future.

When I do this, all I feel doing is to apologise to the next generation, to my children. I am
convinced that we got it wrong, seeing as it is today, and the challenges that lie ahead. Lets be
realistic, we are not going to solve these in a short time span, certainly not within the next two
decades.
In 20 years or so, our children will take over the world that we prepared for them. A world full of
challenges; climate, extremism and terrorism, economy, health, society, division. What have we
done so far to hand this over, in a proper and healthy way? The true answer, is a lot, a lot in the
wrong direction. We have made tremendous progress in technology; we made the world a much
smaller place, we can share images, ideas, videos, streams pretty much everywhere on the
planet, an elusive freedom of expression and power. Our immediate neighbour, is Japanese,
Australian, American, Indian. We have pushed the boundaries of space exploration even further
that anyone could have imagined, we are aspiring to go to Mars and beyond, we have a much
deeper understanding of what makes us, where we come from, of our entire universe, freedom
beyond any border. We are bravely venturing into changing the laws of physics, we explore
quantum physics. Science, has pushed the boundaries of life, we live longer, we fight diseases,
we cure the un-curable, we are so powerful, and we did this together, as humanity, beyond any
border.
We created economies, and countries, trading with each other, creating wealth and supporting
infrastructures, schools, hospitals, universities, research centres, we are mass farming food and
bring it to our cities. What an achievement some would say, we achieved what no generation
has achieved before, we can be proud. Not quite.
Today, 100 years ago, our fathers fell silent and fought in the trenches, they paid with their life
the freedom, that our generation needed to satisfy our thirst of achievements. Two world wars
were thought, at great price to humanity, it shaped and changed societies around the world. Our
parents and grand-parents understood that there was something much bigger, that us, human
being needed to overcome. They understood that the world they lived in, wasnt suitable to be
handed over to the next generation in its then current state. So they thought, they ignored their
freedom, their free will and sacrificed their life, their sovereignty, their financial stability, their
comfort and happiness, they rose as one to fight evil. Have we done the same, have we had this
reflexion? I doubt.
What are we doing, us, citizen of the world, human beings, the human race? What are we
making better for our children, so that they can thrive, prosper and achieve the same
advancements for civilisation than we have, for their freedom to spread their wings and live the
life that they aspire to?
Whether we like it or not, we are the greedy generation, our aspirations are personal, individual;
our measure of success is individualistic. We want to have, to own, to be powerful, to be free, to
be loved, to be happy, to be successful. We think that freedom of speech and free thinking is a
right that we are owed, we think that someone else who happen to be very similar to us, with the

same aspirations voting our laws is a sin, we think that we are owed a job, a roof, to be healthy,
to have food on the table, and be safe; we think we are owed a long, happy and prosperous life.
Our generation, did not have to queue for a loaf of bread, did not have to hide underground for
their life whilst bombs were dropping from the skies, we had no need to unite and fight for
freedom, way beyond any political party, border, boundary, culture. We are a blind, unaware and
individualistic generation; and by fear of being judged we have put smoke screens around us,
we focus on looking good, we log what we eat, track how many steps we walk every day, trace
our heart rates, control and log everything that happens in our homes, and store all of this in the
cloud, the so called Internet of Things, we think that machines will allow us to relinquish our
responsibilities for the future. We want to feel safe. And we put even more boundaries with our
governments, and borders, and police and firewalls, we want our data to be secured, we want
our so called privacy to be respected in this digital age. We want to be in control of our
immediate future, we want to own our own little space in society, one that we are in control of.
But what is this all worth if we forgot the very nature of being human? What is this worth if we do
not have clean and fresh air to breathe, clean water to drink, grass to walk on and a tree to seat
under, forests to generate the oxygen that we need. Do we actually know ourselves as humans?
What are our inner emotions, do we feel them, do we remember them, do we talk to each other?
Why are we scared of dying so much that we need to create economies that support research,
so that we can overmedicate and prolong life even when it does not make anymore sense,
when prolonging means more pain, physical and mental. I spent time in care homes, I faced
death, illness, end of life; I looked at her in the eyes and conversed with her. And this, out of all
the experiences in my entire life, was the most humbling one, a gift from the universe, a gift that
allowed me to extricate myself from the smoke screens that society put in front of me, a
reminder of our very own self, authentic, failable and fragile, human self. Humans are part of
nature, we are a race, a component, in this magic and wonderful ecosystem, we come to this
world, develop, live and eventually die, the cycle goes on, and as we live we aspire of leaving a
legacy behind, for our children and grandchildren. This is normal. Why are we so scared of
discovering who and what we truly are? Why are we not brave enough to shape a world that our
children will be proud of? Why do we think its someone elses responsibility to fix these?
As so called truly historical events unfold in my adoptive country, and I watch, and take part in
the discussion, a sentiment of anger and frustration is emerging in me. I feel that our generation,
or rather generations, we are missing the point, we are stupidly carrying down the wrong path.
We have much bigger problems to tackle than just coming out Europe and gaining back our so
called sovereignty, our so called and ephemeral right to democracy. This is nothing in the great
human adventure, which adventure happen to be threatened due to our own stupidity, ours and
previous generations own making. I see time and time again so called Facebook campaigners
imprisoned in their own stubbornness and stupidity (lets take back control, we are now a
sovereign state, no one can tell us what to do), all I want to say, is wake up, watch the news,
take a new perspective on things, not your own perspective, but that of the next generation; you
owe it them, this is your duty, as it was for our fathers.
By our selfishness and inability to judge and think beyond our proximity and interest, we are
holding the next generation hostage, our very own children, who see us going to work and

innocently believe that we are building a better world for them, for their future, that we are hard
working at overcoming those so called challenges; we are lying to them daily.
Instead we create a false reality that we can be on control of, which allow us to ignore the real
problems, it makes us feel so much better, our individualistic self is fulfilled.
We are not brave enough, we prefer to leave it to the next generation, they are much better than
us, easy way out. We take away from them their rights of freedom, to share, and ultimately to
overcome the challenges that they will have to solve, all because we think we know it all, we
have it right, we understand our self made reality, the one that we control. The truth is that we
dont, we do not have the experience that our ancestors had, we did not fight any war, our vision
is blurred and our values distorted, we are the spoiled generation.
So instead of fighting our own corner, why do we not we do something valuable, be brave, and
pay the price whatever that may be to secure a better future for our children? Lets tackle those
big problems that scare us, using those wonderful tools and discoveries that we developed over
the last century, lets do like our ancestors, lets not be afraid, lets bring out the best in us and in
humanity for a better world when we finally hand it over. See beyond the screens and the false
boundaries, do not be afraid.
Lets a leave a legacy behind our generation.