Stop Asking Me What do You Want to be When You Grow Up

one of my least

favorite questions to be asked by an

adult is

what do you want to be when you grow up

now as a kid

i wanted to be a broadway star

performing on the stages of new york

city

with my name in marquee lights

however after that moment i’ve had my

fair share of career options

broadway star evolved into architect

which evolved into interior designer

which evolved into lawyer and the list

goes on and on and on however

at this moment as i’m getting ready to

apply to universities

i’m still struggling to find the real

answer to what i

really want to be when i grow up and for

me the struggle filters down to

finding out what that what is and when

that

when will come it’s this idea ingrained

within youths and adolescence

this idea of dreaming big about the

great disruptions that we can create

but only in the future now

i can definitively tell you that you’re

asking

the wrong question good evening

my name is todd ahmad yakun and i’m here

to propose to you

two new questions i want you to ask me

who are you and how can you leave your

mark

this question eliminates the uncertainty

of the future

instead it empowers us to think of the

person we are and the things that we can

do now

and that despite the current absence of

a diploma our voices and our actions

contain multitudes and this starts all

the way back with basic interactions

that adults have with children

early childhood australia a non-profit

organization that advocates for the care

well-being and education of young

children states that in order to empower

youths

we must provide them with opportunities

to engage with their world in a

meaningful way

they state that when youths are solving

a problem or exploring an issue

and see their thoughts ideas and

opinions

embedded into the solution they learn

that they have a voice

and that the voice they have is powerful

and we can see this being implemented in

today’s society

rachel peterson the regional director

for save the children one of the world’s

largest children’s rights organization

who had lived and worked in norway

talked about the country’s simple steps

to youth empowerment

now in norway there’s a children’s news

program where global news is shared in a

child friendly manner

children also have the opportunity to

meet with politicians and have a q a

session with them

and in one case there was even a

building project

where the city planners along with the

architects worked with the local

children and asked to hear their input

they were invited to do a little mapping

project and they were asked to show what

that area meant to them

and in the end the children identified

places on the map that were not on

any city official maps such as hidden

trails used as shortcuts to go to school

or hills used for sledding

and although these features were such

small details

the city planners adjusted their plans

to keep those areas

although in norway the whole country

magnifies the voices society deems as

the softest

sometimes it takes just one person

here’s a story i’m sure many of you are

familiar with

malala yousafzai a pakistani activist

for women’s right to education

grew up in an area where talibans were

banning her and other young girls from

their right to education

however it was her father

who empowered her to education empowered

her

to speak in public venues and to write

for the bbc as a way of fighting for her

rights to education

and through those actions she then

empowered other young girls

to their right to education in his ted

talk

zuwad and yusuf sai malala’s father

states that when people ask him what was

so special about his mentorship

the me malala the person she is today he

simply replies

don’t ask me what i did ask me what i

did not do

i did not clip her wings and that’s all

yet nava galilei a researcher and an

emmy nominated journalist

who studies youth behavior in action

compares malala to another group of

youths in one of her presentations

the youths that she compared malala to

were not any less educated and not any

poor than malala is either

but they chose to leave their homes and

join a group

that the world deems as one of the

greatest threats of our lifetime

isis so what’s the difference

why do we have youths who are so similar

yet chose such different pathways

galilee states that youths like malala

are empowered to see their spiritual

attributes

to see their nobility and to see their

worth

they’re provided with opportunities to

contribute to society to fulfill that

longing that

every youth has to make an impact

on the other hand these youths

felt like they couldn’t contribute to

society

and so isis targets these youths

exploits their longing to create an

impact

tells them that they can move the world

that they can create ripples far and

wide if they join them

and that’s a waste of potential

a waste of potential of youths that just

want to leave their mark for the

betterment of society

we youths all have the same desire to

create an impact no matter how big or

small

and it is so vital for parents for

teachers

to help us understand that our voices

are much louder than we think it is

and it starts with young children

encourage them to have a voice

in simple decisions like choosing the

color of their socks or what they want

to eat for breakfast

it shows that their voices are valued

even when it’s soft and quiet

these decisions bring light to the

opportunities that they have to leave

their mark

even when it’s in the smallest forms as

they grow up and as they start to

find their passion start to find their

voice encourage them to use that passion

for good

encourage them to initiate a club

publish a book

run a lemonade stand allow them to

experience the world in which they’re

the author of their own narrative

a world where they’re able to articulate

their concerns and opinions

and lastly but most importantly

listen listen to those concerns and

opinions

listen to what’s most important to us

yes

we may be wrong yes we may lack the

experience and knowledge but yes

it is our courage our enthusiasm and our

passion

that dares us to push the boundaries of

what we as youths can do

and yes these steps are small and simple

but we can do so much more of it

however at this moment we’re living in a

time where youths

are unstoppable here’s greta thundberg

fighting for climate change david hogg

and emma gonzalez

marching for gun control rights east and

la chapelle running a startup that uses

3d printing to build prosthetic arms and

hands

isabel and caroline brecall making 20

million dollars selling bath bombs

the stories of these youth strive with

the question who am i and end with how

can i leave my mark

it starts with a realization that yes i

am young but ends with i have

something so important to say

and these youths aren’t far from our

community

here is emi tamakai-san finishing her

first ever picture book

about adhd which will be placed all over

thai public schools

marisol islam president of project red a

club that works closely with

organizations in thailand

to help raise awareness and support for

girls sanitation

you see the youths

are unstoppable

and so these two questions of who am i

and how i can leave my mark

were the two questions that inspired me

to start profitable social ventures and

to

work with young adolescents and

international schools around bangkok to

help inspire them

and to amplify their voices

as we grow up we ourselves define the

marks that we leave

no matter how big or small these two

questions that i’m proposing

are timeless ones they’re ongoing

questions

that can be asked over and over and over

again

by parents by teachers and one

that we can continue to ask ourselves

so for the youths in the audience stop

wondering what you want to be when you

grow up

instead here are two new questions for

everyone

who are you and how can you leave

your mark thank you