Wes: Last week’s events at Mizzou have been referred to as “remarkable” about 1,100 times in the media since then. To quote the old Buffalo Springfield song, “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear.” Whether you agree with the movement, despise it or remain curious — and there are plenty of people in each category — you cannot ignore it.

Double Take columnists Gabe Magee and Dr. Wes Crenshaw

Over the years in this column, we’ve lamented the tendency of late teens and young adults to eschew politics, to ignore the deteriorating state of the world they’re about to inherit, and to treat their freedoms and opportunities as everlasting entitlements, which they decidedly are not.

In Columbia, Mo., young people, faculty and coaches proved they could make themselves heard. Through a well-orchestrated, peaceful show of willpower, they brought down their school’s administration.

Mark my words: It will go down in history as the beginning of a new student movement. It already has begun here in Lawrence and all across the nation. Most great social movements started with unsatisfied students, and the establishment tends to quickly suppress student dissent in attempting to maintain the status quo. Given the prevailing political tide, get ready for some suppression. That too has already begun. The real question now is whither goes this movement?

Last week also marked the beginning of the one-year countdown to Election Day. Gabe and I already planned to cover that election as it affects young people. Now, it seems we’ll also be covering the election as young people affect it.

“Stop, children, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down.”

Gabe: There’s no denying the protests at Mizzou, and all that has followed, are controversial. I believe that ultimately this movement will lead toward equality and justice. There will be rough patches, but the changes will make the world a better place.

Beyond the event itself, we need to analyze how its constituents reached their goals, and to suggest myriad ways for young people to get involved in causes they care about. To make change, you need to pinch the sleeping giant of society up from its nap. By hitting it where it hurts, society notices. This is the core of protesting — to be a tenacious gadfly to move society along.

The most obvious method that young people can use in protesting is, well, protesting — the good old picket-sign-holding, megaphone-shouting, marching variety. Sneakers-on-the-ground protesting is the baseline form of political action. It is simple cause and effect, drawing wide attention to a cause so that a dialogue must start. It is very simple to start doing as well. Just find a protest group with your beliefs and join ’em.

But there are other options: writing letters to the editor (or maybe your friendly local teenage columnist), donating to a cause or political party, voting and dialoguing daily. You have to be creative so your movement’s voice is heard and change is made. As time goes on, there are increasingly more ways to do so.

One of the most effective is economic pressure — making the powers that be bow to the almighty dollar. The students at Mizzou hit the administration where it hurt. I certainly don’t fault Mizzou athletes for using their position of power for their cause, but it is seems a sad state of affairs when a man’s impending death from a hunger strike gets less attention than a couple million dollars of football profits. Yet, unfortunately, change only came when the multimillion-dollar SEC game was threatened by the protest of 30 football players.

If you are able, and have not already done so, register to vote. Not all of us may be football stars with the revenue of an institution in our hands, but each of us can dictate who the powers that be are, and this dominance over them hurts just the same. Voting matters a lot more than young people think it does. That’s why throughout history the establishment has tried time and time again to suppress minority voting. In the coming year, make sure your representatives notice that you aren’t (or are) happy with their performance and that you intend to vote that way.

Mahatma Gandhi famously advised us to “be the change you want to see in the world.” Young people should pay special attention to this motto, for if we don’t act now, we have no grounds to complain about the ills of the world that will soon be ours.

— Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D., ABPP, is author of “I Always Want to Be Where I’m Not: Successful Living with ADD & ADHD.” Learn about his writing and practice at dr-wes.com. Gabe Magee is a Bishop Seabury Academy senior. Send your confidential 200-word question to ask@dr-wes.com. Double Take opinions and advice are not a substitute for psychological services.