The challenge of today’s youth
With the holding of the National Youth Day celebration here in Cebu this week, we are again given a chance to take a long and serious look at the situation of today’s youth not only in our country but also all over the world. And let’s see what we can do with the pluses and minuses, the lights and shadows that such consideration would give us.
It is obvious that today’s youth are way different from those in the previous generations in so many respects, like in terms of mentality, behavior and lifestyle, attitude, culture and manners, etc. It should come as no surprise since today’s youth are exposed to a lot more things than those of the past. While every generation is different from the others, the present one seems to be more sharply different.
Today’s youth, in general, seem to know and to use a lot more things in terms of technologies. Aside from the wealth of knowledge that has been accumulated through the ages worldwide and now made more accessible due to the new technologies, they are now freely riding the wave of the many new developments in the areas of the sciences, the arts, and of course the technologies. They are the digital natives.
These new things, of course, can have double effects. They can be good and bad, depending on how we understand and use them. While we can see a lot of today’s youth empowered greatly because of these new things, we can also see many of them sinking in all forms of anomalies and disorders.
There are those who manage to make good use of the many possibilities the new things offer them, but there also those who are simply confused and lost, trapped in their own self-indulgence. And between the two, I am afraid the latter is far more plenty than the former.
It’s the latter case that we should be more concerned about. They are the ones who seem to mature late when, in fact, the challenges and complications of the times call for them to mature early.
How can we help them? What measures should we use? I am sure we can come out with many ideas and initiatives. But initially these are what come to my mind.
We have to intensify our efforts to give effective accompaniment to our youth. How this can be done is something that should be the object of constant reflection, study, research, and consultation.
In spite of difficulties arising from the sharp differences between the young and the old of today, we have to find a way of how these two sectors can go together in the journey of life. We have to find a way of putting together for the benefit of today’s youth the old and the new things in our life, the traditions and the innovations, etc.
What is also needed is that we have to be clear about what would comprise as objectively good for all of us, especially the young, what criteria and standard we can use to measure the maturity of a person, etc.
We cannot deny that the strengthening and deepening of people’s faith in God is crucial in this concern. We also have to work out the development of a genuine spiritual life in the young, because without this, we may be doing a lot of things but would still miss the real thing in life. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world…,” we are already amply warned.
Some practical pieces of advice are also very much in order. Like, we have to remind the young ones to go slow in their pursuit of the new things today, and to avoid a multi-tasking work style especially if they do not yet have a proper sense of priority about the different human needs.
Am sure a lot more can be said.
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