It is honestly quite hard to provide an exhaustive list of topics, agendas, or ideas that move me, but if I must pen it down to a rough idea, I would say CHANGE.
Since middle-school I was profoundly interested and engaged in topics regarding politics, economics, and history. My parents have played a huge role in the development of my interest in politics. My first political economy teacher was my father. Just a conversation about a daily bulletin along with my parents would motivate me to read and gain more knowledge about a small part of limitless content in various fields of study. From classroom debates with friends to discussing day-to-day affairs with my father, the interest subtly grew. I slowly gained a habit of reading the daily newspaper and began, consuming (literally) online content on the topics of my interest.
It was, is, and will be my motto to learn something new every day, as trivial as it may be.
By high school, I had assimilated a decent amount of knowledge on various topics but what I lacked was the absence of like-minded peers. Knowing is one thing, but for really understanding in-depth about such things require us to engage and learn about various opinions and point of views that in turn will help us build one. Luckily, I was introduced to a vast world of formal and informal debating, thanks to the stimulation and efforts of my teachers and parents. I met many like-minded fellow students who had the same magnitude and gravity of interest as me. Participating in multitudes of debates and conferences provided me an opportunity to listen and learn. For the first time, I was able to present my opinions and views on various agendas that affected our world. To a politics and economics enthusiast like me, it was and is like living a dream.
In 9th grade (2017), I had discovered an interest in writing and started a WordPress blog on economics. I was not particularly regular and preferred writing only for leisure. Even though I was particularly interested in writing, the dearth of time prevented me from starting an independent blog and by mid-2018, the preparations for the ICSE Board Exams had taken a full swing. Until January 2020, my interest in writing remained dormant. In one of the first days of the year, I was approached by The Green Pages Founders and asked to write for the Economics column in our school newspaper. I was excited and was glad that this opportunity was presented to me. After adequate thought, I decided to take the opportunity to enhance my writing skills, gain knowledge on the topics that interest me, and engage with like-minded peers, but this self-improvement was not the only reason for my interest.
I am an idealistic and optimistic person by nature, and I feel that quality is a representative of my generation. We are an extremely optimistic and determined generation and as we are en route to become the driver of human civilisation in this decade, we face new challenges. Climate change, equal rights, sovereign equality, rise of authoritarian regimes and surveillance states, and (the newfound) coronavirus pandemic are just to name a few. We have to find sustainable solutions to all of these problems, and this is simply not possible without communication and understanding each other across the political spectrum. One of the main reasons why the world in the last decade has turned into a hotchpotch is that we have stopped listening to each other. We live in an age where leaders are weak, but devotion and following is aggressively strong. This is the ‘foundation of all our problems’.
And that is where I believe in change. We need to save our generation from the smokescreen of division, partisanship, and hatred that our previous generations fell prey to. And that is where we must be guided by the historical phrase, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” To infuse this mindset in popular opinion, we need to begin by engaging with each other, understanding, and educating.
So, I take the liberty to believe that by writing on crucial policy topics on political economy, I am rendering a ‘social service’ by giving out my opinions, promoting logic to articulation, and attempting to engage in a dialogue with people about topics that mainstream media ignores, with limited resources and time. I believe that our generation will influence the global governance models and CHANGE the way the ‘system’ works, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that we change for the better.
- Anubhav Mishra
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