When I was a little kid, I never asked for much. All I dreamed of was an ice cream scoop, a movie night or a new teddy bear. I wasn’t aware of what was happening around me or of the world of politics. I lived a simple life.

But that changed when I became a teenager.

When we come of age—or reach the “day of flowering”, as some would call it, we are still being treated like children while being expected to understand and navigate many of the same challenges as adults. Yet if we are expected to live with the consequences of decisions made by adults, shouldn’t we also have a say in what those adults do?

If modern politicians believe that a teenager from a small town in Poland is unaffected by their risky and consequential decisions, they are wrong. What happens in the world affects all of us. Wars, climate change, migration, and international tensions do not stop at the borders of adulthood.

And so, young people deserve opportunities to express what they think about them.

As teenagers we may not be able to vote in national elections, and our voices are sometimes dismissed as “just hormones”. We may may be told that we are too young to understand complicated issues or that our opinions will matter later.

But the truth, and what many adults forget, is that teenagers can already influence the world around them

Think about that little kid who wanted a new teddy bear. It seems like such a simple choice. And yet, even then, choices shaped our reality. A child was too innocent to understand, that from that moment their reality was shaped.

Now, as teenagers, our choices have a much wider reach. We can speak up. We can write. We can read. We can publish. We can participate in public debates and international forums.

I am seventeen, and I have already begun to make my voice heard because I believe it should not be silenced.

But I am only one of many .

Across the world, young people are speaking about issues that extend far beyond their classrooms. Some use social media to mobilize millions. Others participate in youth organizations, write articles, conduct research, organize campaigns, or speak at international conferences. They may not sit at diplomatic tables yet, but they are influencing the conversations taking place around those tables.

There are many opportunities for young people to act and to influence the modern world.

Articles give us a written way to speak up and express our opinions. Public-speaking platforms, such as TEDx events, national and international competitions, and local council meetings, give young people spaces to be heard. Model United Nations conferences allow students to explore international relations and understand the complexity of diplomacy. Youth parliaments, youth councils, and youth boards give young people opportunities to participate directly in decision-making.

These experiences may seem small compared with the decisions made by presidents and diplomats. But influence does not always begin in a government building.

Sometimes, it begins in a classroom.

We may think of ourselves as not being loud enough. But perhaps we don’t need to make noise. We need to make ourselves heard.

We were all teenagers once, and many of us once struggled for opportunities to learn, participate, and grow. If we are all human, and if we all pass through the same stages of life, then why shouldn’t young people be given meaningful opportunities to develop, act, and contribute?

Young people are not the leaders of tomorrow only, we are members of today’s world.

Youth already has a voice. The question is whether we are willing to create enough spaces for that voice to be heard.

It doesn’t take one person to change the entire world.But one person can change someone else’s world.

And sometimes, that is where change begins.