The Write Stuff with... Margaret Rooke

Today it's my pleasure to hand the reins of the blog over to author Margaret Rooke to talk about what inspired her to write You Can Change the World!  

Credit Alex Lister

At 14, Lucy Gavaghan walked into Tesco head office after years of letter writing and petitions, and persuaded them to stop selling eggs from caged hens. She believes her age helps her with her animal rights campaigning. “There must be something about being a teenager that makes this a great point to look around and think, ‘Is this the kind of world I want to grow up in?’” she says. “I don’t let myself overthink what I’m doing. Everything seems so clear to me.”

Lucy is one of more than 50 ‘everyday heroes’ in my book ‘You can Change the World!’ All are making a difference in their own lives, in their communities and in the wider world. They are role models for their classmates, inspiring them to feel empowered to make their own changes – so important when many teens feel unsure about how to deal with the challenges they face.

Research shows that the people who most influence teenagers are other teens, and this can be transformational if the young people they are looking up to are achieving something positive in the world.

My other reason for interviewing teens, was to begin to break down the stereotypes that exist. Today’s teens are often viewed as a generation of ‘snowflakes’, unable to cope with the mildest of criticism, obsessed with celebrity, shopping and self-promotion; and, of course, another extreme stereotype exists: one revolving around gang membership and violence.

I wanted to challenge the way teens are pigeonholed in these ways. A recent RSA poll asked adults to choose from a list of words that might describe teenagers and the most popular they chose were ‘selfish’, ‘lazy’ and ‘antisocial’. However in the same survey, 84% of young people identified with the phrase, ‘I want to help other people’. Adults need a reality check.