Maham Malik's Letter

To my future self,

I wonder if our outlook has changed, if the world finally prioritised change, if we accepted what had to be done to avoid the worst instead of dancing around it, pushing it forward, letting it fester. Right now there's very little 'forward' left, and I'm sure it's even less when this is being read.
I'm writing this in medical school, and in the future I hope to have graduated, to have done more research, to pursue a speciality that I love. But everything is changing so fast, that my personal future is something I can no longer plan out or prepare for like I did when I was young, like I could have afforded to many years ago.
This is the uncertainty everyone faces and should feel. I worry about where our health is going, I'm afraid that the climate crisis arrived yesterday, came through the back door that we left unlocked, and is killing us off in the most harrowing ways.
We have the science, we have the solutions, we are always innovating and I am in awe of what I see and it does inspire me to move forward, to innovate, to research and take part in advocacy. I see that I am not alone, that there are not only individuals, but organisations, charities, governments that share my beliefs, my concerns.
I see the youth, my peers, those younger than me. I see within them the desire to change and the willingness to tackle this head-on.
I take what I have seen and I envision a different future: one where governments have decided that the climate crisis is not secondary to politics and profit. Where we are able to invest in safety of future generations, and our current aging ones. We need to strengthen our healthcare systems, completely reboot how we conduct business and manufacturing, put in laws that hold corporations and countries accountable. I'm not saying anything new or groundbreaking. We know what we need to do, but need the strength and sense to do it.
I hope that when this is being read, we have done it.