Max is a long time volunteer turned employee for mindyourmind as a Youth Outreach Assistant. He enjoys blogging, cats, and the state of Utah. Check him out on Twitter: @maxamilli

Recently my attention was put towards this blog post entitled: “Generation F*cked” which expanded on a recent UN report that rated the childhood lifestyles of kids in the industrialized Western world, revealing that children in England have the worst childhood upbringing (America came second last). Admittedly, it’s hard lately not to turn on the television and see the riots going on in England, watching firsthand the restlessness that exists within their society, and this report serves as a scary reminder of the gap between youth and adults in the nation – and perhaps in all industrialized nations.

The article highlights the growing disparity between young people and adults in the nation, how the adults enjoyed all the great prosperities and wastefulness that came decades before, and now the youths are paying the price in being over-taxed and under-paid. The dilemma here is that we are witnessing the generations push the issues beneath them until the point where the youth can take no more – the breaking point.

As a youth, I have been inundated with constant messages reassuring my place in society. You can’t go anywhere without hearing “you are the future” or “society is counting on young people”, it is a lot of pressure in society today. If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been going through a lot and it’s hard for it not to weigh on your mind. This bleak UN report does not help what so ever, which leads me to my question for this blog.

Seeing as how Britain is a much older nation, are Canada and America on the same trajectory as the English? Is there a growing divide between young and old that is bubbling directly underneath us? Or is there hope for a brighter future? Are we able to vocalize what we need and how we need it, in time, so that we can get the help we need now instead of when it’s too late?

Check out the original blog entitled “Generation: F*cked” here: http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/71/generation-fcked.html

-by Max