by Sameer Iqbal

Hello, everyone. It’s me, Sameer, writing this week’s ‘Youth Connectors’. This edition is based around reimagining our world as we know it. I have numerous guests who have been sending me their input and it’s fascinating to see how differently people think and how limitless mankind’s imagination is! We’ll be connecting with some very young writers today, our youngest ever, in fact: three-year-old Anabelle!

If I were to reimagine and redesign our world, the first thing I’d do is create another dimension. A dimension in a physical context means ‘a possible direction of motion’. In our world and known universe, we have three dimensions: length, width and height. I would add time as a dimension. This would make it possible to move time forwards and backwards – subsequently creating time travel. This is depicted in the film, Interstellar, which happens to be one of my favourite films.

I’d also make it possible for people to instantly move around to different locations in the world. This would mean no more punctuality problems, as everyone would be on time! To make all this happen, technology would need to be far more advanced than we can imagine. However, I think we’ll eventually be able to explore deep space beyond where telescopes can see. This would take the human race one step closer to discovering other intelligent life forms: aliens.

I do know the world I’ve described is a hyperbolic description of a futuristic civilisation. I hope one day that, regardless of how impossible it seems now, we humans might be able to live such a life. Technology is advancing at the fastest rate in history and it’s fascinating how far we have come as a civilisation. It’s also amazing to think how, in the Industrial Revolution, people thought the world was at its peak. One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, it was believed there could be no further inventions or technological advances. In fact, in 1889 Charles H Duell, a commissioner in the US, went so far as to say, “Everything that can be invented has been invented”. Looking back today, it’s remarkable how primitive the early 20^th century seems. Yet, to them, they believed they’d invented everything. This is why I believe my imaginings might actually be achievable!

What do you think?

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 Let’s connect with our young writers first, to find out how they are reimagining their world:

Our youngest writer is Anabelle, aged 3:

Have pink cars. Play hide and seek and tag. And tidy up.

And her brother Leo, aged 7:

I would make everyone live in a villa because it would be so fun, we could relax, have BBQs and play in the swimming pool.

Maryam, aged 10:

I would imagine the world to be normal, like it used to be before the Coronavirus. I want my school to be back to normal, as now we all have to follow restrictions the school has put on us. I can’t play with my friends like I used to. I have to be careful of my surroundings and I have to make sure I don’t get too close to anyone and have to always remember to wear hand sanitiser. I imagine the world to be free of the virus, and I imagine that me and my friends can play in the park like we used to with each other, before the virus came and spoilt everything.

Saniya, aged 12:

My perfect world has no homework. There are flying cars to take you to the sky and go to places. There are hologram phones which light up in front of you whenever you want them to. There are bushes and trees that grow sweets and you can pick them and eat them any time. There is no such thing as illness and the coronavirus doesn’t exist. There are chips in your head with which you can communicate with people.

Sara, aged 6:

I would like a rainbow world full of lots of colour, and a world full of lots of dolls. Also, being able to go to London from Qatar whenever I feel like it. And when I miss my family in London, they just fall from the rainbow.

Zaynah, aged 16:

I would imagine the world in ten years to be safe, fun and a stable environment for everyone to all live accordingly. Problems such as racism, global warming, the Coronavirus pandemic and poor and innocent lives being taken away, such the Uighur Muslims in the concentration camps in China, to be a terrible nightmare that we have woken up from.

I would want there to be justice served to the people who have suffered and whose lives have been snatched away. I would want everyone to be living in a harmonious society where everyone is treated equally, no matter their race, gender or sexuality. I would want there to be rules put in place for the social justice system and for there not to be any problems regarding anybody’s race.

I would imagine the world to adjust to the sudden changes we have all had to face during the global pandemic that took over the world as a storm; a deadly storm destroying many families and pushing the key workers to their limits. This pandemic has shown us that, as a nation, we are strong and can overcome these problems. We all need to work together and, as a result of that, situations like this will improve. I hope we can find a cure for this virus.

Safa, aged 11:

Limitless device usage so I can play for an unlimited time without being told to put them away. I love chocolate, so a world full of chocolate is the best thing. We can pick chocolate up and eat it whenever we want, without getting fat!

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We’ve also had some adult contributions:

Palak Tewary:

A world, green and lush, with unconditional love and unarmed truth, full of boundless possibilities, standing as one.

Palak also sent in a digital image to describe her perfect world:

Farzana Hakim, our regular ‘Thursday Connectors’ page editor, had this to say:

My perfect world would have to be one where there are no borders and boundaries. Where everyone is free to go wherever they want to go, without the fear of prosecution or danger. In my ideal world, there’s no such thing as a passport or an ID card. So, if you want a stroll around the magnificent compound of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, you get on your flying carpet and off you go. If you fancy eating a blueberry and mango gelato whilst roaming the ancient and cobbled streets of Rome, you click your fingers and you’re there; it’s as simple as that. If you wish to swim with silken-skinned sea creatures and run your fingers over the swaying corals of the Great Barrier Reef Down Under, simply grab your mop and jump on and let it take you there. You don’t even need a swimsuit! If you want to sing along to the musicals of Broadway, just say the word and you are there, in the Big Apple. Seriously, in my world, there are no refugees or migrants, there are no homeless and helpless. In my world, we are all one type of human and we are all united and one. You are not British and I am not Pakistani.

Madeleine White, Write On! Editor:

Despite my journalist background, or maybe because of it, I find it easier to say things that I feel deeply: my greatest hopes, my darkest fears, in poetry. This, the last stanza, comes from something I wrote a couple of years ago. It speaks of hope and coming together, as well as of collaboration and renewal; all things I believe are essential in terms of reimagining our here and now.

Glorious now, it is a new day
The night it has gone, it no longer holds sway
Together we all in discovery bound
Will make our way home, to where new life abounds.

© Madeleine F White, 2018

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What an imaginative and creative week we’ve had! It seems that many people imagine the world differently. The children have an innocently selfish way of wanting the world to feed their desires, whereas the adults are more inclined to make the world better for everybody. The picture by Palak Tewari illustrates this perfectly.  I’d like to end this week’s page by saying that the world will be what we make it. If we believe we can achieve what we want and put the work in, anything is possible.

I hope to connect with you again soon.

Click here to read Issue 5 of Write On! Magazine.

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