Anas ibn Malik reported that the Prophet (pbuh), said, "If the Final Hour comes while you have a palm-seedling in your hands and it is possible to plant it before the Hour comes, you should plant it." - Hadith Sahih Al Albani
There's a reason why novels like The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner are part of the popular youth culture today.
Think about it - they all have one thing in a common: children and young adults pitted against corrupt, rapacious, world-destroying middle-aged people.
And why ever not? This was the very world Millennials have inherited. Unlike other generations where people envisioned a future of space exploration and thriving technology, we were born into a dying world with depleting resources and broken political systems.
These novels are popular not just because they simply reflect the plight of this generation. They are popular because these are stories about hope, survival and resilience - values that Millennials hold dear today.
And that is exactly what we'd like to harness within you, dear readers, for this project.
This collection of short stories and poems follows the journey of a young Millennial living in a contemporary world. A world that's facing adversities of poverty, child illiteracy, gender inequality, lack of access to medical care, disease, environmental instability and economic crises.
Sure, we acknowledge that all this makes the future sound bleak - just as how dystopian novels don't neccessarily have a happy ending. But that is exactly the point: as the prophetic belief above says, even when the world is coming to an end, plant the seedling in your hand. Because what we do now matters anyway.
Millennials is designed to raise awareness – to move and inspire our generation to take a step further and extend our fullest potential to change the world. We're also challenging you readers to write a piece of your own based on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). The list can be found in the photo attached. Whether it's a poem about a specific crisis, or a short story regarding a social issue you see in your own neighbourhood, tag your story with 'Millennials' and we'll add it to our reading list. Our favourite entries will be named in the final chapter of this book.
So plant that seedling! Read, and write on.
Peace.
YOU ARE READING
Millennials: The Collection
Short Story"We anticipate not the end of the world, but simply the end of the world we know." Millennial [mil-len-ee-uh l]: a member of an often misunderstood and maligned demographic cohort with a desire to catalyse a positive change in the world. - Based on...
