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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UC Berkeley chapter.

 

    Being in early adulthood during this time of seemingly global uncertainty makes every aspect about the future appear so foggy. There’s no way to really tell where you will be in the next few years, how successful you’ll be, what type of house you’ll own, etc.- when you don’t really understand what’s happening in the rest of the world, let alone your own country.

There’s an understanding that you either want money or you want change and there’s not a real possible way to have both – that is, unless you want to become undeniable wealth and donate large sums of your net worth into some humanitarian organization, and to be perfectly honest you’d have to be directly involved in whatever efforts they are making to know that your money is being well spent. Sure, you can feel less guilty about capitalizing on the wealth you’ve achieved probably by working hard and not from the small loan of a million dollars your dad gave you, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can trust the way your money is being used. To be actively involved in real change, not the kind of change working in our government system can actually bring, you have to create a bit of a larger spectacle.  

Protests at Cal have lost their appeal; they’re so frequent it’s almost as if they occur every week, and most of the students don’t even know what these protests are for they just have to find a way to maneuver around them and actually get to class and get that degree. Yet, isn’t the whole point of a protest to create this large spectacle and capture a lot of attention? If there’s a protest for everything, then in reality you’re actually getting rid of the possibility of having a large scale audience be enthralled by your devotion to your cause; when you’re devoted to everything, nothing stands alone as immediately important.

The millenia seem to think that it’s possible for the government to fix all of these problems that have accumulated in our society in the United State, however they’re too busy either trying to meddle with other countries systems, or focusing solely on nationalism and pride that there’s no real possibility to fix the fog we see in our future. Clearly, as the United States government has proven with their resistance to reforming our gun laws – and I mean reform, not abolish – that they can turn a blind eye when in comes to the youth of their own country. Political opinions aside, it’s frustrating to not know what is going to happen in the years to come in terms of social progress. There is a large portion of the United States that is far from as accepting as it assumes itself to be.  

There doesn’t necessarily seem to be a clear pathway to progress while we are in the position we are in now; however it is clear that something needs to be changed before everything goes into complete disarray

UC Berkeley class of 2021. My heart is in the mountains, and with any corgi I see. I'm interested in writing, yoga, running, hiking, boxing, playing piano, music, adventures, and studying psychology and anthropology.
Melody A. Chang

UC Berkeley '19

As a senior undergraduate, I seek out all opportunities that expand my horizons, with the aim of developing professionally and deepening my vision of how I can positively impact the world around me. While most of my career aims revolve around healthcare and medicine, I enjoy producing content that is informative, engaging, and motivating.  In the past few years, I have immersed myself in the health field through working at a private surgical clinic, refining my skills as a research assistant in both wet-lab and clinical settings, shadowing surgeons in a hospital abroad, serving different communities with health-oriented nonprofits, and currently, exploring the pharmaceutical industry through an internship in clinical operations.  Career goals aside, I place my whole mind and soul in everything that I pursue whether that be interacting with patients in hospice, consistently improving in fitness PR’s, tutoring children in piano, or engaging my creativity through the arts. Given all the individuals that I have yet to learn from and all the opportunities that I have yet to encounter in this journey, I recognize that I have much room and capacity for growth. Her Campus is a platform that challenges me to consistently engage with my community and to simultaneously cultivate self-expression.