Power of Youth

Power of Youth MARTIN ANTONY PYNADATH TIRUPUR

“Youth is the joy, the little bird that has broken out off the egg sand is eagerly waiting to spread out its wings in the open sky of freedom and hope” James

Youth is the spring time of life and it is the age of discovery and dreams. “Youth is like a fire, crept forward; A spark at first, growing into flame; the brightening into blaze”. It is like dynamite. Dynamite can do great good when used in the right way. When Abdul Kalam, former President of India stated that India will be a super power in the future (India 2020), he was very calculative about the mighty ‘youth force’ of India. Everyone agrees that Youth Power is a great source of energy and the real value of this power cannot be evaluated at all. Barrack Obama realized this potential of young people and harnessed them into his campaign and thus made the history to become the first black president of America. According to him, “Young people everywhere are in the process of imagining something different than what has come before us. Where there is a war, they imagine peace; where there is hunger they imagine people being able to feed themselves. Where there is bigotry they imagine togetherness”. He proclaimed that the youth are the agents and catalyst of social change. If we want to ensure a bright future for our country, we first need to strengthen and empower our youth. They are the powerhouse and storehouse of infinite energy. Youth make up about 34% of the total population of India. This 34% constitutes for the country's future. All we need is to direct the energy of our youth in constructive channels that lead to development and progress. The creative potential of the younger generation coupled with their zeal, enthusiasm, energy and versatility can work wonders for the country. We need to empower our youth so that they can make a better tomorrow.
The power of youth in creating social change is proven yet again by the recent youth revolutions in Egypt and the Middle East. As youth became disillusioned with their governments, they used the power of technology and youthful idealism to topple decades-long dictatorship. Young people have the power and the energy. They talk fast. Think fast. And go about their business fast! Thousands of entrepreneurs around the world are young. Lots of billionaires today started their companies at a young age. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs started their own companies when they were barely out of their teens. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of the mammoth social networking site Facebook, was only 23 when he became a billionaire. Right now, hundreds, or probably thousands of youth in their twenties are carving their own mini-empires in different sectors all over the world. The point is, however, the youth are becoming a really important force in the world. They can become the movers of the world. According to Robert Kennedy “the world demands the qualities of youth, not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of will ,a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease”. This is a clear depiction that youth is not limited to a time period of life but it is a state of mind.
Now it is appropriate to clearly explain the source and origin of youth power. Physical power is the gift of the age for young people. But the real essence of youth power is the young mind. Main reason for this power generation is the non-corrupt mind of young people. As people get older their minds get filled with unwanted garbage and a garbage bin can only produce foul smell. But, young minds are like wind mill producing natural energy without troubling anybody and damaging anything. The will to experiment and explore the world is another source of power for young people. Once a student asked the Zen master, why the fish is trying to jump out of the ocean? The master replied that it is exploring the world beyond the ocean. The quest and zest in young people to explore new possibilities have created great opportunities for them. Walt Disney was an unsuccessful cartoonist, but when he saw a rat in the garage, he thought of Mickey Mouse and the rest of the story is a great history. Youth is always thinking about possibilities and not muddled with problems. Each breakdown is a breakthrough for them. . Sofia Loren, the famous Hollywood actress is overwhelmed with the source of this youth energy. “There is a fountain in youth. It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to life and life of others. When you learn to tap this source you really defeat the age.”
The will to learn is another source of power for young people. They keep their mind empty to be filled by knowledge. If we observe a vegetable shop keeper we can see the following sequence of actions. After he opens the shutter he looks whether the shop is intact as he left yesterday evening. Then he removes the rotten ones and put in the garbage. After that he takes the old ones and hides behind the fresh ones. Then he arranges all the fresh ones in front of the line. If you want to be in the front of the line you need to be fresh always and this can only be achieved by becoming a permanent student.
Youth is determined to change and their mentalities to work hard help them to reach the top. A great example is Dhoni, the cricket captain of India. From a remote village of Ranchi, Chhattisgarh he rose to the captain of Indian cricket which was ruled by the metro boys. His perseverance and hard working mentality has not only helped him to reach the top but also motivated the whole Indian youth to believe in themselves and strive for a better future. He helped the young Indian to dream to reach the top.
The centre point of youth power is that the youth need to understand that, the energy is vested in themselves and not anywhere else. Majority of the time this energy is wasted in comparing others. Once there was a young beggar sitting under a tree and begging for food and money. People in that village told him ‘you are young, why are you begging? You can dig around the tree and plant vegetables’. He did not listen and kept begging .One day he died and the villagers decided to bury him under the tree. When they dug they found a box full of diamonds. This beggar was sitting on top of the diamonds and was begging all through the life. Youth who do not recognize their power inside them is exactly like this beggar. Each one is created uniquely by the God. This uniqueness is the real value. Once we realize this we will stop begging and start digging to find out the diamond inside us.
Pope John Paul II in his ‘Letter to Young people’ talks about the youth power by quoting the gospel of St: Mark (10, 17-22) This Gospel passage shows us clearly how much Jesus was concerned with young people, with all of you, with your expectations and your hopes. He gave his full attention to this youth who was moved with an ardent desire to speak to the “good Teacher” and to learn from him how to journey through life (Letter to Young People, No. 2). Youth is the period where crucial choices and decisions of the life are made. While Jesus was telling the young man to sell off all his properties and follow him for eternal life, he was forcing the young man to take a tough choice to leave the non powerful things in life and embrace the real power.
Let me conclude with the following message. We shouldn't under estimate the strength of youth in the church, either
1. They are idealistic. There are worlds to conquer, battles to win, deeds to be done.
2. They have boundless energy. They seem to never tire in whatever work they passionately believe in. The church needs their zeal and fire for the Lord. We need their energy. Try to refrain from constantly telling them, "We've tried it before, and it didn't work then!" Do not seek to discourage young brethren. "Let no one despise your youth." (1Timothy 4:12).
3. They approach many things with a clean slate. They don't have many of the old prejudices that we older adults have.
Let us guard and harness all our youth power into right direction so that we have a better Christian community, which will lead the world into a corrupt free and value base life.