Youths: Caught between idealism and action

Growing up, we often wonder why we cannot just fix things. Why can’t we end world hunger? Why can’t we find a cure for cancer?

These goals are noble, commendable, and without doubt necessary. Yet ending world hunger feels impossible, no matter how hard we try, and a cure for cancer remains elusive despite billions – possibly trillions – poured into research.

Faced with such insurmountable odds, a paralysis sets in. We convince ourselves that if we cannot solve the entire problem, our contribution is meaningless. The gap between the world we want to save and the limited power we hold becomes a chasm we are afraid to cross. Consequently, the sheer scale of our ambition incapacitates us. Because we cannot do everything, we often choose to do nothing.

But here is the simple truth we often overlook, echoed in a famous Nike tagline: just do it.

The most defining moment is not standing at the finish line of a solved problem, but having the courage to take the first step towards it. Action breaks the paralysis. Once we move, the path forward begins to reveal itself – slowly, perhaps, but surely.

Want to change lives? Volunteer at an orphanage. Want to cure cancer? You cannot, but you can ease a patient’s suffering simply by spending time with them. Ultimately, it is these simple gestures that count – proof that we do not need to save the world to make it better.

For youths, this struggle is often entangled with the search for identity. It is not that we lack vision, nor that we do not know who we are or what we want to achieve. Rather, we are often forced to be pragmatists. We feel compelled to prioritise immediate responsibilities – education, financial stability, family – before daring to incorporate larger, nobler goals into our lives.

We fall into the trap of viewing ambition and responsibility as mutually exclusive, believing we must finish one chapter before starting the next. We tell ourselves we will contribute to society after we graduate, after we secure a job, or after we achieve financial freedom. Idealism is relegated to a ‘someday’ that never seems to arrive, because life rarely gets less busy. It only grows more complicated.

This compartmentalisation is dangerous. It suggests that making a difference is a luxury reserved for the successful, rather than a duty for the living. If we spend our youth purely in preparation mode, waiting for perfect conditions, we risk losing the very spark that made us want to change the world in the first place.

If we wait until our schedules are clear and responsibilities light, we will never begin. We must find room for the ‘good’ amid the ‘necessary’. At the end of the day, intentions are invisible. What defines a person is not just what they aspire to do, but what they actually do.

So my advice to youths is simple: just do it. Do not be afraid of falling short of your dreams. The first step to success is caring enough to fear failure, but victory lies in the attempt itself. You must try – because without the attempt, there can be no result. We must not allow ourselves to be paralysed by ambition.

Irham Zulkernain hails from Kelantan and is a student of Applied English Language Studies at Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.

The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and do not necessarily represent that of Twentytwo13.