The Fifth Estate

"Yonder sits the fourth estate and they are greater than them all" These were words uttered by Edmond burke, looking up at the press gallery some years after the French Revolution. The concept of the fourth estate was thought of as a means of influencing positively the first three estates, nobles, clergy and commoners.

Nowadays the fourth estate has grown as powerful as the first three and one may be mistaken for considering it the most powerful. With this power has come misuse and as the fourth estate has conveniently abdicated its responsibility of adequately and impartially serving as a system of checks and balances to the first three estates, it follows that there should arise a clarion call for a fifth estate.

The fifth estate has been the most difficul to define. Random House Webster's dictionary defines it as 'any class or group in society other than the nobility, the clergy, the middle class, and the press'. I am advocating that we the youths be considered as the fifth estate.
Why should we be considered an estate? In fact, what does estate have to do with anything in the present state of striving to achieve our dreams? You may even be wondering, the object or purpose of such an expose.

To me it means everything. The subject of identity has always interested me. Been able to not only determine how a person acts and responds, but also how he/she feels about his/her actions is intriguing.

If we consider ourselves as the fifth estate, then we start to realise how important our contributions are, not only to the welfare of our individual communities but to the world society as a whole. We will no longer think Utopia, but we will experience it, as the world would be a perfect place of bliss, if all youths, disregard social constructs, personal egos and selfish motivations, and work towards the advancement of society as a whole.

You can be a pessimist and argue all you can trying to persuade yourself that this paper is unnecessary or you can be an optimist and a pragmatist, saying this can work if you start doing something, anything.