Week 2- Article 3: Of Youth and Age

Central Argument: Francis Bacon claims that a young mind has much more capacity to dream, discover, and create than does an old one.

They say as people get older, they become wiser. They have had experiences that have truly been a one of a kind. However, as Francis Bacon says, a young mind has much more potential to learn and discover, no matter how wise age makes you. Francis Bacon tells the truth when he says that a young mind his curious, creative, and can change ideas into reality.

A young mind has the potential to be curious and creative. For example, in the beginning of the novel, Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Caroll, Alice is sitting by the shore, bored, when suddenly, she sees a rabbit with a pocket watch. As her curiosity gets the best of her, she leaves her sister behind, and ignoring her calls, runs after the rabbit. Thus, her adventured in Wonderland begins, and she returns home after having an extraordinary experience. When she recites her adventures to her sister, she refuses to believe her. This story tells how an adventure-seeking and imaginative mind can create wonders. It shows the reader how, perhaps unlike an aged mind, a young mind doesn't hesitate even once before jumping right into something that it finds interesting.

Other than being curious, a young mind can dream and actually make it a reality. For example, Kony 2012 has grasped the attention of many. First, it started out as just the idea of a man working in Uganda. Because of a painful encounter with a boy who lost his brother to the rebel group there, the man decided to take the matters in his own hands and try to make a difference. He went back to the United States and to the government, asking the officials for their assistance in this ongoing struggle in Uganda which has lead to violence and abduction of many children. Then, as he gathered more and more people to support the idea, it actually started making a difference. The U.S. government sent in troops to Uganda to assist the local army to capture the deadly criminal, Joseph Kony. And now this year, more and more people are recognizing the severity of the situation and coming together to raise awareness. This case shows us how it takes just one, enthusiastic and determined young mind to make a difference. It shows us a young mind is capable of coming up with an idea and actually making it a reality.

As seen in the two examples, a youth is very capable of being creative and making dreams reality. The youth have the energy, the enthusiasm, and the thirst to keep moving forwards in this world.