'Too young to protest, too young to be an activist and too young to have opinions.

'Too young Too stupid Too naive.

'And you're right, I am too young.

'Too young to be scared of bullets flying through my school, embedding themselves into my classmates, and having to watch as my best friend's once bright eyes flicker out, knowing I will never be able to apologise for that stupid fight we had earlier, knowing I will never be able to talk, laugh or smile with them again, knowing I will never be able to hug them again, knowing I won't be able to tell them how much I love them one last time.'

The biting words from a 12-year-old Soldiers Point student are in fact the introduction to a school entry for a young writers competition.

The short story, titled 'Generation Z Is Too Young', becomes even more confronting, dealing with issues such as rape, suicide, racism, gender inequality, bullying, violence, fake news, climate change and more.

They were penned by Soldiers Point Primary School Year 6 student Annie Stephenson and, like Swedish teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg, she makes no apologies for her work.

"Writing is a way for me to get out of my head the thoughts and reactions that are swirling around," Annie said.

"I like to write narrative and it's usually about whatever is on my mind, maybe something I have just read or seen on the news.

"I do have a curiosity about the world and I like to put in words what I see through my eyes. I am also concerned about a number of things going on."

Asked if she would one day like to become a politician, Annie is adamant: "No. I may be a writer but not a politician."

Her proud parents Kate and Ryan Stephenson say they like to encourage their children to be open about their opinions, regardless of the subject matter.

English teacher Nathan McGregor said that he was so impressed with Annie's deep and insightful work that he had forwarded it to a leading English teacher at Tomaree High School.

Mr McGregor said, however, that the story unfortunately would not meet the criteria for the young writers competition.

You say I am too young

Too young to be a feminist, too young to know my own sexuality, too young to be depressed, too young to hate, too young to protest, too young to be an activist and too young to have opinions.

Too young

Too stupid

Too naive

And you're right, I am too young.

Too young to be scared of bullets flying through my school, embedding themselves into my classmates, and having to watch as my best friend's once bright eyes flicker out, knowing I will never be able to apologise for that stupid fight we had earlier, knowing I will never be able to talk, laugh or smile with them again, knowing I will never be able to hug them again, knowing I won't be able to tell them how much I love them one last time.

I am too young to fear being raped by a man while I walk home in my school uniform, because I can feel him watching me. I shouldn't have to constantly have somebody by my side. I shouldn't be thinking that I should have waited for my friend to finish her test so we could walk home together, because now if something happens it's my fault.

Too young to fear finding my friend in a pool of their own blood because slitting their wrists was better than living. Or finding my friend on the bathroom floor, with multi coloured pills surrounding them, and shoved down their throats, because they'd rather go out in a loopy daze than try to withstand and face the torment of life.

Too young to fear seeing a familiar face on the news, because they were black, and looked over their actual age, so the white, middle aged cop shot in "self-defence", even though my friend was clearly unarmed and innocent. Or because my friend was Muslim, and was carrying a " suspicious" looking bag, and was shot, then later died, because the police officers thought he was a terrorist, when really he just wanted to get home to his family, with a gift that now lays in pieces on the concrete.

Too young to fear that my LGBTQ+ friends have been killed, abandoned or sent off to conversion camps, when really all they wanted was love and acceptance, but instead they found hate and rejection, because they were "disgusting sinners" who were just "confused" and they apparently "don't know what they're talking about".

Too young to be sobbing with such loss and grief over people so special to me, who died too young because no one would help them, or all their cries were "fake" because they were too young to feel real pain.

Too young to be bloodied and bruised by battles I did not choose to fight in.

You say we are too young.

And you are not wrong.

I am too young.

Too young for

HOMOPHOBIA

RACISM

SEXISM

RAPE

SELF HARM

SUICIDE

GUN VIOLENCE

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

I should not be so desensitised by this violent reality.

So yes, I am too young. But you cannot blame me for my hyper awareness of our reality. This generation has been born with information at our fingertips, and we have been told to sit still and be quiet, because the adults were talking, but you had your chance, now it's our turn to speak, and our turn to fight. Because our rage is pure fire. And with every breath we take, our lungs get more shredded with all the misery and hate that is engraved into our society. You say we are "too sensitive" because we are teenagers who can't control our emotions, and so therefore we can't have opinions, and when we do, they don't make sense, or they don't matter. But you can't keep us quiet when we are yelling for change.

The Amazon is burning. The Arctic's on fire. The oceans are boiling. The coral reefs are dying. Antarctica is heating. Ecosystems are crashing. Earth is turning to desert. And you wonder why we're angry.

Generation Z is the future. We are not too young to be feminists, to know what sexuality we are, to be depressed, to hate, to protest, to be activists and we are not too young to have opinions. But we are too young for the world to be burning around us. We should not have to worry about if our children will have a happy world to live in. Something needs to change, and to whoever is reading this, please, do something to help. Walk more, eat less meat, stop using single use plastics, use refillable coffee cups or water bottles and use less electricity. Make the world healthy again.