I harbour shame and anger towards my peers and colleagues.

This is because we are an irritatingly complacent generation. Complacent in a sense that we take the opportunities and resources we are given for granted and assume that what we have is a right and not a privilege.

There is a sense of incompetence that is synonymous with being young, and more often than not, I cannot place the blame for this perception on the shoulders of those who feel this way, because the party to blame for this is ourselves, as it is an image that we have unintentionally cultivated since we were born.

Being 22, my thoughts are often pushed aside and deemed to have little merit because I have not sufficiently experienced the trials and tribulations that life often presents to us, and thus, cannot properly form an opinion on certain matters.

At least, this is the impression I have been left with after some time at the grindstone alongside working adults. Often I have heard, during my numerous jobs, similar or the same suggestions being voiced by interns and senior executives. And more than once I have noticed the difference in reaction to these ideas depending on its source. The first being met with kind but firm rejection, while the latter is treated with reverence or at the very least, constructive criticism.

But is the shallow logic that we are young really why our ideas lose their credibility? I dare to disagree with this notion and offer my own reasoning as to why the solutions we offer are brushed aside.

I am sad to say, that in my eyes, often, the elders reaction to suggestions we put forward are justified in some way. There is certainly merit to the idea of immaturity in our decision-making skills. But to be sure, it is at times not the opinions themselves that are unworthy, it is the source of the idea that subtracts from its credibility.

We consume information at an alarming rate. We wake in the morning to Facebook, have lunch in the usage of Snapchat and sup in the presence of twitter. We eat Snapchat, breathe Google and sweat Twitter. We are not dumb or uninformed, in fact, we are the most informed generation of youth to walk the earth.

It is estimated that until the 1900s, collective human knowledge only doubled every 100 years or so. Today, some estimate that it doubles once every 12 to 13 months. We have an unlimited amount of information at our fingertips. More than we could ever hope to learn.

The true problem is much simpler, it is that we are satisfied, and satisfaction is not only dangerous, it is poisonous. This is because satisfaction is the death of ambition. Without the hunger for improvement, complacency leads to regression from advancement and towards the degeneration of societal structure.

This is seen in the annals of evolution. Every living creature on this earth has had to change and adapt to the environment they are faced with to survive, whether it be the growth of strong sharp teeth, or hard impenetrable shells. Those that have not adapted to the threats they faced do not exist today.

Education the means to create a more functional society

Admittedly, my point of view originates from a middle-upper class perspective, which to me, makes it that much more frustrating. Nearly all of the middle-upper class of my generation have at least, a secondary school level education. Visionaries and leaders insist that education is the means with which we create a more functional and efficient society, which holds true to some extent.

Through education we learn to make informed decisions via research, and gain the ability to deduce the most logical means with which to benefit ourselves, if not society as a whole. And a lot of the time, these two objectives are aligned.

I am often pleasantly surprised at the knowledge on current events that my peers exhibit in our conversations. Most have some inkling of local politics and some go so far as possessing in-depth knowledge on well-known laws that have cause some controversy such as the Official Secrets Act (OSA) or the National Security Council (NSC).

But what use is possessing intelligence if we lack the will to act on our dissatisfaction? There is no point in being educated if we do not speak out. We know much, and often, government policy and social issues are areas that many are inflicted with a deep malaise. We talk loudly to each other and complain of the diminishing economy and draconian laws in passing, but stop short of actively participating in real political or social activism.

Some go so far as writing an angry Facebook post, but when asked to put in the effort to even register as a voter, most still seem to possess a “One vote only ma, no difference,” mentality that is deeply worrying.

Of course, this cynical opinion does not apply to all youth, but those who do act in the favour of change are, sadly, the exception and not the rule. The majority consists of those who stay silent.

To these individuals I say get up and do something. Join an NGO, volunteer at a charity, write an article, or at the very least, register yourself as a voter. Act on your dissatisfaction and sufficiently inform yourself on what it means to be a responsible Malaysian.

Our friends, parents, grandparents and teachers will all be gone one day, and if we do not act, why would our children? And if none of us do, one day there will be no one left who will.

I am not innocent of being complacent, and more likely than not, neither are you.