Youth in Revolt: Global Proportions

VICTORIA GAVIA
Copy Editor

Think back to October 20. It was a Wednesday and chances are you were weighing options about what to be for Halloween or maybe you were struggling to stay awake during class. Whatever obstacle or dilemma you were facing at that moment probably didn’t quite compare to what Marisol Valles Garcia was going through.
In the small border town of Praxedis Guadalupe Guerrero, located in Chihuahua, Mexico, this day marked the swearing in of a new police chief. This town, rampant with organized crime and constant violence due to the opposing Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels, is the victim of terror. Drug lords are currently fighting over a stretch of highway that could prove to be very lucrative in their drug trafficking endeavours.
The people of this town suffer from living in a land with virtually no law and most disheartening of all, the town’s government officials have either succumbed to threats and quit their jobs or were killed.
In the midst of all of this, 20-year-old Valles Garcia stands, ready to employ her methods and bring order to the place she calls home. She is married, has a baby son and has not yet earned her criminology degree, but when the mayor of the town was looking for proposals to fill the police chief position, hers was chosen.
Now, let the above information sink in. This seems like the gripping plot to a foreign drama, but in Mexico it becomes more and more real each day.
When I first read this article, as I was browsing the Yahoo! News page, I couldn’t believe what I had just read. You have to understand, I’m 17 years old. And I tend to put myself in other people’s shoes—creating ridiculous hypotheticals in my mind.
The only thing I kept thinking was. “Imagine, if in three years I became the police chief in a town full of criminals and drug lords.”
At first I was skeptical and immediately after I felt extremely lethargic.
What had I done on that day? I got through another day of grueling, high-stress level school, took the bus home, did my homework, other miscellaneous activities (i.e. scrolling through pages of Tumblr posts) and then went to sleep. With so little resting on my shoulders, the amount of work and responsibilities paled in comparison.
I commend Valles Garcia for her courage, initiative and most of all, her spirit. As most of us know, it’s not easy to be the one to step up and create change in a relatively hopeless situation.
As high school students it seems almost impossible to have any real-life impact, but remember, young people have a history of starting revolutions. All over the world they are showing ambition and proving they aren’t just brainless beings with no purpose in life other than to eat and complain.
Students in France have been protesting education reform and pension policies this month. Iranian youth have shown dissent for their government and have remained politically involved. People in the Democratic Youth Federation of India rallied for better safety measures after a train derailed in Calcutta.
These efforts, coupled with determination and the desire to enact positive change are just a few examples of the power we hold as young people. We may not all become police chiefs, like Valles Garcia, but we can emulate her example and choose to act with passion and valor.
I hope, along with the people of that small town, that she is able to achieve the prospects she has set for herself, not only to bring a sense of peace, but to take a step in the right direction for the war-torn country just south of our border.