Feb 9, 2009
“Young people need models, not critics”
In the past few days youngsters are prominently figured in news headlines. Be it young terrorists killing hundreds of people in Mumbai, young guy's gang raping girl in Noida, youngsters being caught using drugs, young people vandalizing or teenage girls getting pregnant. While the Youth of today are considered the futures of tomorrow, these youngsters seem to be making the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Why are these youngsters becoming antisocial? Why are they becoming captives of drugs, cigarettes and alcohol? Of course even the inclination of these few is detrimental not only for themselves but the society as a whole.
Coming back to my question of why youngsters today are becoming hostile. Most people blame it on TV, internet, media and the influence of western culture. To a certain extent yes, it is a cause. But then what about youths from rural places who do not have access to TV or internet and to whom the western culture is yet to reach? Why are these people misanthropic? And what about those youths who live in a modern civilization with TV and internet around them, but still have their roots intact to their morals?
Youth is a stage in life when one goes through a lot of changes; physically, emotionally, psychologically and intellectually. This is a time when an adolescent needs maximum guidance and needs to be around the right group of people. I myself fall under the category of youth. From what I have experienced and what I have seen many of my friends go through, I conclude, the main reasons why young people go astray are: lack of rapport between parents and children, youth thinking they are big enough to take their own decisions, peer pressure, and discrimination at some point in their life.
The first and main problem is absence of relationship between parents and youth. Few parents think their child is big enough to go his or her way at the age of fifteen. So they don’t even bother to see what their young child is doing. On the other hand some youngsters think they are old enough to take their own decisions and do not find the need to consult parents. Some other parents are too strict with their children. This is when kids rebel and break rules to see their outcomes. Parents need to become friends and not dictators. Youngsters look for somebody with whom they can relate and discuss their concerns. And if parents provide this, we don’t have look for guidance from other sources. Secondly youngsters hesitate to discuss issues which are modest with parents. Issues such as dating, love affairs, physical relationships are often hidden from parents. Hence if parents communicate with their kids as friends at least these predicaments can be discussed and the youth can be guided against taking a wrong step.
Second major reason is peer pressure. Smoking, drug addictions, alcoholism among youth are mostly a result of peer pressure. We all want to fit into the group we socialize with. And most youngsters are ready to do anything for this even if it means going against their beliefs. Peer pressure can be in the form of dare, threat or mere influence. Hence parents need to watch out for the kind of friends their kids hang out with. And we youngsters need to think once, rationalize and then follow anybody or do anything.
Some youngsters are becoming violent and miscreant. Destitute, lack of education, unemployment, bias in terms of religion, cast or creed usually leads them to be rebellious against the society. These people call their stance as revenge against the society. Political hooligans take advantage of such youths. And today’s youth being less concerned with politics are vulnerable to act in anti social activities. Politicians create groups, senas and persuade these youngsters to do unlawful activities giving it the name of a good cause. Similarly youth are turned into militants in the name of religion. Youngsters not being mature enough are usually over overridden by these unruly people.
Finally, our society today is not what it was a decade ago. Problems faced by our parents and grandparents were different from what the youth today are facing. Every generation of youth have had their own issues and troubles. In the 40’s it was fight for freedom which our grandparents as youth had to go through then our parents had to struggle to attain basic necessities for themselves and their families. Today, we have moved from a conventional society to a developed society. Today’s youth on one hand are more outgoing, with a lots of aspirations and very enthusiastic about achieving those aspirations and on the other hand are finding it difficult to cope up with pressures, having difficulties in interpersonal relationships, going through depression and even suicidal behaviors. Since the problems faced now are different from what it was before, even the means to solve them are different. Hence we need to contemporize our outlook and be practical. Isolating, beating up, screaming and shouting surely are not solutions. Rather patronizing, befriending and guiding will be of help.
Youth are always stereotyped as reckless and immoral. But there is always a reason why the youth are behaving in certain ways that are disagreeable. A young boy may start smoking just because his friends are doing so or because he has seen it on TV and wants experiment it. A teenage girl may end up getting pregnant because she may have not received guidance and advice so as to distinguish right from wrong. The reasons why so many youth are going astray are apparent and most of them are within our control. Parents and elders need to befriend the younger generation and then guide them rather than imposing their value systems. And we youngsters need to be reasonable and intake only what is good for us and the society. We need to circumspect before acting, judging or deciding.
After all 41.05% of the population in India consists of youth. And we youth are the leaders of tomorrow. For a better future, both the society as well as we youth need to alter our outlook. Time is changing and so are people. And change is definitely required for a developing country like India. It’s only a matter of time when we Indians find a Barrack Obama among our youth.
Only instead of encouraging communal hatred and starting numerous senas to police the youth morally, I wish our elders lay a strong foundation for us to capitalize and make India a better place to live.
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