2020 International Essay Contest for Young People

COVER PAGE

1. Name* Udisteanu Teodora

2. Category (Children or Youth) Youth

3. Age as of June 15, 2020 15 years old

4. Gender female

5. Nationality Romanian

6. Address Romania, Iasi, Valea Lupului, Barbu Lautaru street, number 5

7. E-mail udisteanu.teodora@gmail.com

8. Phone number 0787253571

9. School name (if applicable) National College Iasi

10. Essay title* We all have the power to change something

11. Language Romanian

12. Word count 696

(excluding this cover page)
My essay

We all have the power to change something

Have you ever felt like you're in danger? Like there is no way to escape from a world where
corruption and violence lurk at every step? I did, in 2020 when a girl was kidnapped; she was at my
age at that time. I didn’t know her, but I was devastated. As the rest of my country, I was
shocked when came to light details of this kidnapping: she was raped, and then she was killed.
Apparently, the murderer was part of a more complex network of clans in the mafia world. The case
itself had not happened for the first time, but something had changed in people's mentality. We
realized the fragility of life, and at the same time, the danger of the mafia clans.
They killed for pleasure and money. They really did this. We were the symbol of the
change; they were just too dangerous to let them continue.
I do not have the power to go back to 2020, but I'm convinced I have changed something. Ten
years have passed since the tragedy that shook the entire country. Ten years when we, a team of
people with ideas, changed a world.
Once the story of the girl was over, the consequences started to follow us; people started looking for
peace of information about the mafia clans - and what they discovered was worse than the case
itself. Families, branches, drugs, beatings, guns, and traitors with an awful fate. We were
not prepared for this. It was a reality that everyone has ignored; and if we didn't ignore it, it was such a
dangerous subject even to discuss. I was 16 at the time, but I knew I wanted to live in a safer world,
where my children to not be afraid to walk down the street. That is how I started to gather more people
to accept the responsibility to take care of our nation.
At first, the others didn't believe in our project, saying the underworld would never go away. The
mafia clans were just too anchored in their own hidden world, but we started gathering information
about them, about those people who were trying to hide, knowing that they have done worse things
than we have ever can imagine.
 Now in 2030, the new world we have created is based on communication. We thought that might be
the problem – all the frustrations which accumulate as time passed, came at one point in which they
transformed in such manifestations as mafia groups. In schools, we have special programs in which
the students can participate to understand the psychology of those who feel unwelcome in a place. My
job is to discuss with young people and to understand their fears about the future (like money and
the career) or the frustrations about past (resulted by a wrong, maybe abusive, familial relationship).
The next step is to control that feeling. Adolescents need to understand that there is always a way to
escape from a bad situation.
Thinking of 2020, I have one single piece of advice to give me from then, if I could: People can
be good! All you have to do is to understand them!
Maybe we could stop earlier those tragedies that shook a world.
     We choose out battles and it’s important to know that to kill your morality for money or pleasure
does not represent the escape you think you need. We have tried to integrate into our society those
with precarious material situations to annulate any reason for someone to choose the bad way. Now,
in schools, the teachers are telling our children about those days in which mafia clans were a part of
our reality.
They don’t know that they are playing on a graveyard. All they know is that there are no more
dangerous people.
They think it was far from now. Like I think about the second World War. But it was a reality in which
I grew up and wanted to escape from. My team had nothing than their knowledge and their desire to
live in a better place. It is enough to change something. It was enough for us. This was our power.