Class #:

Johnlloyd V. Daniel

12-Amare

Title : The 21st Generation

Humanity in the Twenty-First Century and Beyond  explores how we were shaped in the

past, what we are doing now, and what we might become. It looks at us as individuals to see

what helps us function, as communities to see how we interact socially, and as a community in

seeing what we're doing to the earth and all living things. The world is evolving and becoming

more dynamic in the twenty-first century as the flow of knowledge increases and is more trans-

parent every day. The world is vastly different than it was only a few years ago, it is indeed hard

to believe that the world and people have changed so dramatically in such a short amount of

time, they have become more intelligent and diverse. People have plenty of reasons to be proud

of their successes in the twenty-first century. There has been a long list of incredible scientific

and technological achievements, from walking on the moon to clone embryos. However, the

mind of a restless person also has a strong urge to accomplish goals. There's every reason to ex-

pect that many more of these visions will become a reality in the near future.

In the twenty-first century, what does it mean to be human? is a question on how we per-

ceive ourselves, the universe, and our position and purpose in it. Whenever I talk about our gen-

eration which is the 21st generation , my parents would always say that the generation they are

living in is too updated and advanced for them because they did’nt have social medias , they had

different aspects or views in life which made a lot of troubles and problems before but in today’s
generation, we are more grounded individuals and people who stand up for what is right for the

society and for the citizen’s own good.

From the recent contraversial news of BLM or the BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVE-

MENT , LGBTQ community standing up for each other and to many more news that have bro-

ken out , our generation has experienced a lot of negativities yet we were able to stand up for

what is right and support people who has taken courage to step up and fight harder . The 21st cen-

tury is indeed a new generation where people get to discover more about theirselves , who they

are and what their purpose is in life which makes the 21st generation incredibly unique in so

many ways. The 21st Century is indeed a more advanced society/world with everything made

easy .The identity of a 21st Century Person can be classified into two characteristics , the first

one would be Awareness/Observant and the second one would be that 21st Century people see

good in things .

Now I would like to talk about 4 texts which relate to the characteristics I have mentioned

about a 21st century identity . The four text includes : Dead end by Rudolfo Anaya, The virgin by

Kerima Polotan Tuvera ,Born 1982 by Kim Ji Young and I am a bird by Kathrina Haji , these

texts shows us two of the characteristics that I have talked about in my previous paragraph .

The two text which is Dead end by Rudolfo Anaya and The virgin by Kerima Polotan Tu-

vera relates to the first characteristic of a 21st Century Person and that is seeing the good in all

things/open minded . The first text which is the Dead end by Rudolfo Anaya talks about a girl

named Maria who is going through a difficult time and is torn between two goals which is being

famous like hanging out with different groups of friends and upholding her promise to her

mother. Maria goes to school every day hoping she could be like the other girls, who have nice

clothes and are well-known. Maria's mother made a promise to her before she died that she
would not give up and would try to help her, but all things changed when she met a boy, now this

boy is not just an ordinary boy he is a person who is liberated, care free and does anything he

wants , we may call it as “rebellious “ . Now Maria’s promise to her mom always lingers in her

mind whenever she thinks of being a different person , and there was this part where she was

able to hang out with the boy and she was able to get to know him a little better . The second text

is The virgin by Kerima Polotan Tuvera, this text talks about a woman names Miss Mijares, a

34-year-old student, was the subject of this story. She had a slimy, almost bony appearance. She

was a woman with so many priorities that she didn't know until later that she was old enough to

marry.

The two texts : The virgin and the dead end talks about the characteristic open minded-

ness , because in the text both the characters were feeling down and upset about what they are

going through , about their reflections and realizations in their life which led them to many

things , both the characters are rethinking about their life like how Maria never judged the “boy”

who was so called “rebellious” , she never really judged him because she knows that the “boy” is

probably not all bad as what other people have said , and how Miss Mijares opened her heart at

the end of the story . These two texts made me realize how our generation allows us to be more

open minded and seeing a silver lining in a bad situation.

The last two texts/film which is Born 1982 by Kim Ji Young and I am a bird by Kathrina Haji.

The film Born 1982 by Kim Ji Young tells the tale of a 30-year-old Korean woman balancing

work and family, as well as the gender inequality she encounters at various stages of her life. The

film addresses a lot of issues we are facing in the 21st century and when I was watching the film

my first thought about it was that it was trying to relay a message to the real world or to us , the

film showed various scenes of gender discrimation and cultural differences which are highly rel-
evant in our generation . The text I am a bird by Kathrina Haji Talks about a person who cannot

love the person in a different place , the text made me remember the quote “ home is where the

heart is “ . The text I am a bird made me realize that what the person meant by “ I could tell you

that I have loved you, have loved the loving of you, but that when I dream I dream of a heat that

warms the bones instead of the skin. That when I picture you in Brunei, I see you confused and

lost “ I believe that what he meant by that line was you can never try to change a person in your-

self , despite how different you both are you can never try to manipulate a person in becoming

someone who they are not .

The text I am a bird and the film Born 1982 showed us a 21st generation characteristic

which is Awareness . The 21st Generation indeed has become aware of their surroundings and the

problems the world is facing , as our problems get bigger our generation finds a way in handling

the situation especially with the help of technology and social medias . Social media is a very

powerful platform that the 21st generation are all in , the social media platforms is where our gen-

eration is able to know what is truly going on in our world.

The 21st generation have become such a powerful generation that has influenced the

whole world and its people . There are many characteristics to identify a 21st generation person

with everything that has happened and what we have experienced I can indeed say that our gen-

eration has made good things happen in our world . To conclude, the two characteristic that I

think identifies a 21st person would be “ open mindedness and awareness “ and I think that these

two characteristics should be treasured because not everyone can be open minded and aware of

the situations we are facing in our world. The 21st generation is diverse and each and everyone

of them are uniquelly different which makes our world a better place to be in.