matthew walsh

I think every teenager thinks they have the ability to change the world. I'm not an exception to that rule. We've been imbued with a sense of confidence and exceptionalism that many call undue. However that sense of exceptionalism is the direct result of faith. That is, faith in the human spirit and its ability to transform a community. This faith is rewarded when I see my fellow youth, so often mischaracterized as apathetic, knock on doors for causes they believe in. It's rewarded when I see my grandfather, born in an age of homophobia out in the streets of California protesting the passage of proposition 8. It's rewarded when I see an African American president and a female speaker of the house standing side by side before the American people. Change has happened consistently throughout history. And every time it is the result of individual American citizens - armed with naught but their confidence and exceptionalism- knocking on doors and appealing for a change of the world.