January 24, was a very big day on television in America for more than one reason. First, there was absolutely nothing good to watch on TV. Second, President Obama gave the State of the Union Address to the country. As teenagers, we believe that nothing the President had to say would affect us at all. Yet that isn’t the case. The entire future of this country is depending on the teenagers who are in high school now and what they decide to pursue in the future.

  Whether it is the decision of what college to go to, which career to pursue out of high school, or what career to pursue out of college, their decisions will heavily affect the American people and the standing of America on the world stage. There might be the next Bill Gates out there, or maybe the next bum. As teenagers, we have the freedom to still decide who and what we want to be, and what we want to make of ourselves. Not only to benefit ourselves, but to pay our dues to our country. “We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world,” is what President Obama said, and it is the truth. Sadly, countries (mostly notably China and South Korea), are quickly out-doing the United States.

  President Obama also made a bold statement about teachers in the United States. He said “If you want to make a difference in the life of our nation; if you want to make a difference in the life of a child--become a teacher. Your country needs you.” Despite the fact that as teenagers we may think that politics, economics, and international affairs are problems of our parents and adults in our lives, this is our time to  become more educated about them.

  We need to start paying more attention to what the president has to say, rather than what the theme on Glee was last Tuesday night. WE have the power! The future of our lives is in our hands for this brief period of time, and we need to talk advantage of it. We are a generation that is eager for our independence, and we can’t wait to start our lives, yet we need to be educated and dream big. After all, America has always been based on people who dare to dream. It is the only way to win the race for the future. So rather than lying around and watching the lives of the Kardashians, or what trouble Snooki has gotten herself into this week, every once in a while we should try to tune to CNN to watch the real problems of the world that will actually have an effect on us when we finally do grow up.