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S W A L I S  | M Y  P E R S P E C T I V E  & 
V O I C E  I S  U N L I K E  A N Y  O T H E R

I have grown up in a post-September 11 world. I have 
grown up being hyper surveilled. I have grown up in 
the biggest recession since the Great Depression. I have 
grown up in a world where I am alerted to every tragedy 
that takes place across the globe, and I have grown up 
in a world where suicide rates are higher than they have 
ever been. I have lived through a global pandemic. 
Social media is everywhere, and everyone is trying to 
create an image of themselves that does not reflect their 
true identity.   
 
I have seen social movements come and go. I have seen 
people achieve justice in unprecedented ways like in the 
case of the United States Gymnastics Team members 
who so bravely came forward with accusations of sexual 
assault against Larry Nassar. However, I also saw justice 
fail as Ian Manuel served 26 years in prison, 18 of which 
in solitary confinement, for a crime he did not commit. I 
have seen it all.   
 
No one making the political decisions right now has 
seen what I have seen. According to the Library of 
Congress, the average age of the U.S. Senators in 2021 
was over 64 years old. None of them grew up in the 
world that I grew up in. None of them even live in the 
same world as I do. My generation has grown up in 
unprecedented times on multiple fronts and for multiple 
reasons, yet politicians and older generations refuse to 
acknowledge or accept our input on issues that only 
we have experienced. Young perspectives and young 
solutions are constantly ignored, and society is reaping 

the consequences. Young people have been advocating 
for an increase in teaching Black history in schools, 
mental health professionals to be a part of mental health 
crisis calls with the police, and a new culture around 
sexual assault that empowers women and victims 
instead of villainizing and doubting them. Somehow, 
though, society still is uneducated on an accurate history 
of the United States, suicide rates are at an all-time high, 
and society shames victims and defends powerful men 
against accusations.   
 
My generation has witnessed the unfolding of these 
issues like no other age group of people have. Our 
perspective is unlike any other. My perspective is unlike 
any other. I have seen riots, protests, and hate– hate 
that is perpetuated by our political leaders. Hate that 
takes away from individuality. The hate we are facing in 
today’s world was created by the political leaders who 
have been in power for decades. The ingraining and 
solidifying of the two-party system in the United States 
has ruined my generation and I blame politicians, on 
both sides, whose ideas should have been left behind a 
century ago and who have used hate to push personal 
agendas.   
 
I am not going to claim that our country is the most 
polarized it has ever been; we once saw so much hate 
the only escape was a civil war, but I will claim this 
era of polarization is the most dehumanizing. People 
cannot have their own opinions; they cannot have their 
individuality. I struggle with the polarization of politics 

My Perspective and Voice is  
Unlike Any Other   

Author
RYLIE SWALIS, Butler University



ENGAGE!  |  st u d e n t  vo i c e s 56

S W A L I S  | M Y  P E R S P E C T I V E  & 
V O I C E  I S  U N L I K E  A N Y  O T H E R

in the United States. A person cannot have opinions or 
views that span the political spectrum. They have to be 
left or right, Democrat or Republican, blue or red. If a 
person aligns with the Republican Party on one issue 
they are labeled as a Republican, but they could have 
opinions and beliefs that span the political spectrum. 
None of this individuality of thought is accounted 
for; every person must be placed in one of two boxes. 
Switching is not allowed, and being allowed in the 
middle is becoming more and more rare.   
 
People cannot be free thinking, independent-minded 
individuals with their own values, priorities, and 
passions. By not voting people out of power for decades, 
in a country that was founded on the principles of 
ensuring one person never holds too much power or for 
too long, we have abandoned the very ideals our country 
was founded on. Politicians in power have moved 
from an open-minded, willing to cross the aisle for the 
betterment of society, to a vote directly down party 
lines system–without the consent or knowledge of the 
governed. Members of Congress are elected to represent 
the ideals of their constituents yet vote only by their 
political party.   
 
Young people need to speak up; no one in power has 
seen the issues from our perspective or as fully as we 
have. When a politician has thought about something 
the same way since they took their first oath of office 
in the 1970s, it is hard to change their mind, and 
there is an issue there that needs to be addressed. My 
generation has new ideas. My generation has the power 
to dismantle the two-party system and address the issues 
that need to be addressed instead of letting old feuds or 
outdated ways of thinking stop us from improving the 
nation our futures lie in. 




