Society: The Youth Quest

Somewhere within the thoughts of a youth; probably to the left side of worries... at the bottom of all school stress but most likely, at the right side of wisdom, a voice of deep understanding prevails. This voice lives in every one of us, crying out for independence and liberty, answers and explanation, identity and belonging, discovery and adventure but above all, love. It is this quest that controls our feelings, actions and thoughts. Yet as the youth, we earn different names for discovery, several adjectives for identification, a file of penalties for being curious or trying out almost anything new that meets us on our journey to adulthood, adventure to knowledge and crown it all; exploited for love. I call it the youth quest; only done injustice by those who address it as “the modern day youth insanity” with regular lamentations and complaints that will either start or end with: “the youth of today….”. A few young gentlemen and ladies that I have had an opportunity to talk to have often showed a common belief; I’ll put it as it was said by one of them: “We are the richest youth generation ever to exist on earth and that should be appreciated and groomed...” Let us put this to the table. Look at what is commonly referred to as the youth and tell me if you don’t see a child trying to shape his life to look like what he has seen his elders do or become. Yet the very elders that these young spirits want to look like have hardly spent time with them. One can count the number of times they have had “quality time” with their elders before age 20 and that is if they were lucky to ever do... And of these chosen few, it must have been after they had done something wrong, for which they were rebuked with a forest of threats and a desert of building statements or advice. Which by-the-way creates fear instead of respect, servant-hood instead of love bound obedience and not to mention the feeling of being deprived of freedom. A wise person called Jessamyn West once said that there are two barriers that often prevent communication between the young and their elders. The first is the middle-aged forgetfulness of the fact that they themselves are no longer young. The second is youthful ignorance of the fact that the middle aged are still alive. Well, I’ll add to the age groups: the top-aged, who not only fall in the same bracket with the belief of the middle aged but spearhead testimonies of insanity in the youth of today. No offence to any of the above, but the youth when approached will often close the chapter even before it is opened with words like “old fashioned” playing somewhere at the back of their minds, and any word said won’t even be heard, no matter how loud or angry the parent or elder will be. Am again reminded of Annie Dillard’s words; “No child on earth was ever meant to be ordinary, and you can see it in them, and they know it, too, but then the times get to them, and they wear out their brains learning what folks expect of them, and spend their strength trying to rise over those same folks.” I once had a young boy tell his school teacher; “You are sounding a hell lot like my parents. They’re always harping on how they’re giving me a better life than they ever had, then they resent me because I have the nerve to enjoy it…” and was he wrong? I would love to echo these wise words that if there was ever a rich generation, it is the youth of today; their lifestyle and relationships are a whole new arena to explore, covering all dimensions of fashion, Entertainment and interests. “I have found that the best way to give advice to a child is, to find out what his interests are and then advise him on how to do just that.” Harry Truman Ends