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Read these amazing readings written by teenagers who will be the future leaders of this world… Enjoy.

By Alejandra:

When I was thinking about the future I figured out that my life is never going to be as it is today. It is going to change a lot, but I’m going to get used to it. For example, I am going to be a psychologist, so I am not going to have few responsibilities, I am going to have a lot more because I will not be studying (well, maybe doing an specialization), I am going to be working, there will not be exams, neither free tie, I will have a busy agenda (but I’m sure that at least I’ll have time to be with my family). Maybe I am not going to be living with my parents because I would like to find somebody to love, somebody who loves me, and then we will have our own family (with children). As I am going to find my own car, I will not depend on my parents car, bus or taxi because I would need to drive my family where they need to go.
Now I have a narrow mind, less thoughts, so I hope that with the years I would have a more globalized mind, with more ideas to change the world, to change my world. But the most important thing is that I’m expecting to be proud of myself and happy with my life, so in the future I am going to be as proud and happy as I want to.

By Tatiana Arias:

Have you ever thought how your future is going to be? That’s something I think about everyday. Always, when I’m studying, I say that it’s for my own benefit, that it will all be worth it when I have the perfect future I’ve always dreamed about.

Nowadays, I’m living in Colombia, in the beautiful city of Medellin. I live with my parents and my sister, and I love them so much. I’m still in school, but I will soon graduate. I’m also studying english and french. We travel once a year, I love visiting new places and learning new cultures. I really like going out with my friends to the cinema or just to have lunch, but I hate the fact of having to ask my parents for money.

Since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to live in the States. So when I finish the university, I’m plannig to work there. I want to work in a big companny as a top executive. I’m going to earn my own money so I can stop asking other people to lend me some. I want to have a really intelligent husband and have two or three kids. I’m going to manage many languages because I love it. I also want to read a lot of books so I can know a little bit of everything.

By Isabela:

I have a lot of plans for my future but now, I’m doing everything to get my high school promotion, because in the future I want to have a great job. Nowadays I’m earning money selling things like candies and sweet things in my school and giving English classes to little children, because I desire to have a lot of money to achieve all my dreams. Like get a nice country house, a pretty house in the city or an apartment to live in with my husband, and travel a lot with him to exotics places and learn about different cultures around the world.Right now I don’t have any kids, because I think it’s a big responsibility and it’s not the right time to have them, in my future I don’t want to have kids neither, but maybe I would change my mind when I grow up. And If I have them I want to be a supportive mother, and I will take them to language, dance, and music classes. I love to help people, mostly the children. Because I love to see the children’s smile, so when I have the opportunity to help people, I always do it. I don’t want to change it in my future, I will be always open to people who ask me for help.
Finally, I’m studying English at my school and at EAFIT. I’m preparing myself to have an excellent and high level of English. I want to keep learning English, and I also hope to learn another language, like Italian or Portuguese because these languages are interesting , but I would decide later the best option or maybe both.

By Daniel Jaramillo:

“My life”

When I was a little kid, I used to wish I was at the university playing soccer all day and being actually free in many aspects, but in 2010 when I finally went there I wish being a kid again in kinder garden playing all day or in 11th grade with all my school friends, dreaming and wishing be adult in order to work and have a family.

We always think about our future, we dream many things for example now being in the university I wish I will be working for a big company or I will have my own, developing a product and selling it around the world. Now I’m living and studying in Colombia but one day not really far I will be living in the U.S or in a European country, studying and meeting people there.

Many people decide not to have family, but in my case the people who I live with (my parents) always tell me many things about how important family is, so I will have a beautiful family with two kids and a precious wife, and they will be my “motor”, the reason to reach all my goals.

Beside work and soccer my other passion is cars, nowadays I don’t have my own car but one day in the future I will have many cars (a Toyota SUV, a Mustang and a BMW) and a Yamaha raptor motorcycle.

Talking about traveling, I really appreciate that my parents have given me so many trips, I have known many cultures and places, I think it’s the best thing that a person could have in their life. I will travel a lot (business and pleasure) and I will show my kids many places as my parents did.

Le concept d’adolescence, amplement étudié, devient de plus en plus complexe de nos jours. Parler d’adolescence est quelque chose d’incertain. On la définit comme la période entre la puberté et l’âge adulte ; mais ce qui devient difficile est de déterminer à partir de quel moment un adolescent est un adulte.

Si au moyen âge le mot adolescence n’existait pas et un enfant passait directement au monde des adultes vers l’âge de cinq ou huit ans[1], maintenant on a l’impression d’être dans une société dans laquelle tout est pensé autour des adolescents. Tout le monde voudrait rester jeune, beau et sain, et les adolescents sont une évocation constante de ce stade de jeunesse où les limites n’existent pas et rien ne semble impossible. L’adolescence est donc passée d’être inexistant, à être un prototype idéal à suivre et capable de transformer les tendances et les traditions culturelles. Du fait d’une société de consommation devenue de plus en plus globale, la publicité et les médias en général contribuent aussi à situer ce groupe comme modèle social et culturel, dans lequel les looks, la musique, le cinéma, le sport, les vêtements, l’alimentation, etc. sont tous définis par les jeunes. C’est le cas aux États Unis, où le marketing et les entreprises de publicité utilisent les jeunes pour introduire plus efficacement des marques et diffuser leurs créations[2]. Ainsi, le développement de nouveaux produits, de technologies, de marques, est conçu presque exclusivement pour les adolescents, puisque ce sont eux les principaux consommateurs. Cependant, ces jeunes se rendent aussi compte jusqu’à quel point ils sont l’objet d’attention de la part de la société. Comme le dit Le Breton, « Adolescents choyés, couvés par le marketing, ils n’ignorent pas la valeur qu’on leur prête […] Ils grandissent avec le sentiment que le monde est un immense centre commercial à leur service où ils cherchent les produits leur conférant une identité solide[3] ». Et c’est justement cette attention qui pourrait aggraver le sentiment de chaos dans l’esprit déjà bouleversé des jeunes. Sans des modèles clairs à suivre et en même temps se découvrant modèles et maîtres eux-mêmes dans la société, les adolescents d’aujourd’hui sont encore plus désorientés que jamais.

Si vous êtes interessé en lire plus sur ce mémoire, contactez moi.

[2] Le Breton, David, (dir.), (2008) Cultures Adolescents, Paris, Autrement, p. 72

[3] Ibid.

Esta semana tuve la gran oportunidad de asistir a un congreso de cinco días en la Universidad Paris Diderot, llamado “Observation et pensée” – Observación y pensamiento. Este congreso era completamente gratis para todos los estudiantes de Paris, además para profesores, investigadores y demás personas interesadas en los diversos temas a tratar. Adicionalmente, los organizadores proponían una visita guiada por un experto en historia del arte al museo del Louvre y otra al observatorio de Meudon (situado a 10 minutos de Paris, en tren). La asistencia a estas conferencias era muy flexible, y gracias a una programación muy precisa y ordenada, era posible escoger las conferencias que mas nos llamaran la atención, o bien asistir a todas. Los temas eran variados: Psicoanálisis, sociología y antropología, física, matemáticas, historia y estrategia militar; es decir, todas las disciplinas (ciencias naturales y humanas) tenían lugar en este congreso.
Lo increíble de la historia es que si había cien personas en este congreso, el promedio de jóvenes presentes a lo largo de las diferentes conferencias y mesas redondas era aproximadamente de 4 o 5. Más sorprendente aún era que aproximadamente un 90% de los asistentes superaba los 50 o 60 años! Qué quiere decir esto? Pues bien, no lo sé porque no soy ni psicóloga, ni socióloga, ni antropóloga… pero a mi modo de ver las cosas, los jóvenes de ahora, han perdido el entusiasmo, la curiosidad, las ganas de ver y de saber el por qué de las cosas. Será que en esta era de la tecnología, los video juegos, los mensajes de texto y el Facebook, ya no es importante pensar en la astronomía, la filosofía y la historia? Será que todo esto, visto con los ojos de un adolescente es perder el tiempo? O tal vez el problema es que necesitan aprender todas estas cosas de una manera más tecnológica y dinámica, algo que atrape su atención?
Ayer por la tarde, en el observatorio de Meudon, mientras nos explicaban el funcionamiento de un gran lente para observar la superficie solar, miraba a esos viejos llenos de vida y entusiasmo, ávidos de conocimiento y no podía evitar pensar en mis estudiantes. Aunque siempre hay excepciones, ya quisiera yo tener alumnos tan aplicados y tan curiosos como mis compañeros del observatorio: haciendo preguntas, tocando, mirando, disfrutando cada experiencia nueva, sin siquiera pensar en el por qué o para qué saber esto o aquello, simplemente por el placer intelectual de aprender.
Qué tenemos que hacer nosotros para lograr esta misma curiosidad en los jóvenes? Acaso no necesitamos formar a los futuros científicos, pensadores y en general, a los futuros líderes del mundo? Entonces debemos cambiar algo en nuestras aulas, en nuestros hogares, para que las nuevas generaciones, sigan reinventando el mundo, sigan soñando con grandes ideales, sigan haciendo nuevos descubrimientos y formulando nuevas teorías. Pero antes que nada la tarea es nuestra: padres, formadores, instituciones  y gobiernos deben ser conscientes de la importancia de formar seres humanos íntegros en todo el sentido de la palabra para garantizar así un mañana mejor,  uno del que todos tanto hablamos pero poco hacemos por encontrar.

La foule de la folie dans la vie, dans nos jours; le bruit des images et l’extase des couleurs.

Et oui, être toute seule à Paris c’est comme être seule n’importe où. La solitude n’est pas toujours synonime de tristesse; elle peut aussi nous apporter des joies jamais imaginées. En fait, la solitude n’est pas vraiment physique; on se sent seuls dans l’esprit; c’est pourquoi en restant remerciants des simples bonheurs, en se profitant des moments les plus infimes, en gardant la foi et l’espoir, on n’est jamais seuls…on est joieux dans notre belle solitude.

Fontaine des Medicis, Paris - Jardin du Luxembourg

Erehwon. Can you read this word backwards? The Word Utopia has its origin from the Greek: “ou-topos”, in which ou means ‘not’ and topos means ‘place’, or nowhere. The Thesaurus defines it as “an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect.” The first time this word was used, was in the book Utopia (1516) by Sir Thomas More. Throughout history, men and women have dreamed about a perfect world and a perfect society and many have devoted their lives to this cause, in an attempt of making something real out of this dream. As a result, new societies were created, following the model of utopian communities in which equality was paramount. What they wanted to achieve was a perfect society with no private property and no poverty; one in which physical and mental labor would be equally important, one in which men were all the same; perfect and happy. Whatever the good intentions of all these new societies were, failure was a forgone conclusion since they didn’t have a well-developed financial plan in which housing, farming, education and health could be implemented, and since it was impossible to force equality into men and women that weren’t equal. Creating a perfect world in a world where nobody is perfect is most likely an impossible dream. Considering human nature, always vulnerable to evil and corruption and living in a world of globalization, in which no society can ever be in complete isolation, utopian societies are nothing but a beautiful fairy tale. There is always room left for being better, one person at a time and one day at a time, in each one’s heart.
Being exposed to the horrors of violence and terrorism, to the injustices that men, women and children are subject to, make us constantly dream of the day in which all those bad things that happen every minute will only exist in our memory. We hope for children to be healthy, educated and happy, we hope to see everyone living with dignity, without fear, having the opportunity to develop their talents and their capabilities for everyone’s wellbeing. We would like corruption to disappear from governments and public servants, and see the money from taxes and charity, going where it’s supposed to go and not to bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland or the Bahamas. But can we really make it all disappear? Haven’t hundred’s of thinkers, politicians and dreamers gone out there with braveness and determination hoping to be the first ones to bring lasting happiness to society? We are not gods and we are not perfect, we can be good one minute and then really bad the next. Even Mother Teresa of Calcutta had that experience. Even she doubted her faith; even she had her moments of weakness and despair. Then how are we supposed to believe that only with good intentions and a piece of land, one man or a group of honest and devoted persons will be able to create a perfect society? Even if they succeeded in the attempt of living in isolation, away from the sins of capitalism and consumption, in a place where everyone was equal and there was no private “anything”, even with these conditions, the constant threats that suppose being part of the world itself, and just being what we are, fallible human beings who are always vulnerable to change and mistakes, make it almost impossible to have a lasting utopia.
What we as human beings need to understand, is that sadness, mistakes, evil, and problems, are always going to exist. That’s our whole reason for being down here in the world; to overcome all those difficulties and fight against the bad things that are always present; being able to defeat and start over again is part of our mission. That’s what’s beautiful about life, that even amid all the bad, most of us never give up, and we keep dreaming about the perfect world, which we won’t be able to see in this life, but maybe in the next one to come.
I do believe that we can be better, more generous, loving, humble human beings, but this cannot be imposed. Each person can take the determination and preside over his or her own actions to become more just and tolerant, more peaceful and kind; but this can’t be possible if it doesn’t grow in us a real, authentic need to be good; good men and women, good husbands and wives. If we don’t start by creating a “perfect home” first, we can’t even think about creating a perfect community, country or world. If we don’t start by creating a perfect “I” first, then we can’t think about anything else.