Our Biggest Strength Is Our Biggest Of Weaknesses.

– Aditya Bollapragada.

We don’t call ourselves the youth just because of our age, there is more to youth that we all associate with. The passion, the energy, the enthusiasm, the panache are all different traits of this wonderful stage of life. It’s this stage of life that holds the uttermost significance for a transition in terms of everything physical and mental in our body. As the popular saying goes “With great power, comes great responsibility” Youth this day has moved onto other purposes of life that are not just trivial but also are proving to be a waste of much needed time and energy. Constant efforts in the pursuit of cheap pleasures are something of an obligation for the youth these days. While the older generation has been keeping a lot of faith in the youth of this country, they constantly fail to see the true nature and naivety of their own dreams (some of which they themselves are responsible for). We see success in the most unholy and untrue of things, achievements which amply satisfy the hunger for money, fame, relationships etc. Virtue of simplicity is considered as blasphemy. An Indian working abroad is a basic necessity for marriage. An engineering degree is the mark of intelligence and vanity is the true reflection of a human soul and is worshiped by all walks of society.

This country produces what I like to call, ‘The Modern Slaves’; people who are willing to sacrifice almost everything for a lead in the race of supremacy, power and better lifestyle in their local diversified communities. Commerce has had an enormous success in manipulating and brainwashing all sections of the society in this country for several decades now. These points inevitably pose a lot of questions than it answers.

I ask you one… Are we really proud of the youth in this country?

Learning to stand up to ourselves is the hardest task a person has to do. “I have every right to do this, go mind your own business.” is wrongly interpreted and used for the wrong reason these days.

“Why should I serve this country?” is another popular question that is being asked by almost every person who wants to make it “big” in his life who in reality is a wannabe bureaucrat. We produce bureaucrats not creative labour.

I don’t blame the youth for whining about how degraded this country is. Youth has mastered the art of finding faults within a system, blindfolded. A fault once found in the system is popularized by various sectors and giants such as the media, the opposition parties, the humanitarians, the civil society etc., none of which have a true intention of getting the fault sorted out. They do it for power and power only and as a result of which divisive groups and renegade politicians emerge that leads to all kinds of instability. They take the advantage of the stupidity of the public of looking at things at a superficial level. Elections, Govt. Surveys, Index Marks, and Census Reports are their tools.

I, just like most of the youth, am well aware of the mess this country is in. With all the other major powers of this country finding their own cynical ways to bring themselves up in this hierarchical system, it leaves us, the youth.. As the only major driving force of this country. This power is a massive power indeed. The reason why this power, is not tempting enough for the youth is where the answer to my previous question lies. Instead of displaying our aggression, defiance through means such as vandalism and communal carnages, if this massive power is exercised in the proper manner, I can, without a shadow of doubt assert that there will be no looking back for this country once this is done.

I have enlisted a few of the major reasons behind this inability to work for a change:

1. Failure to stand up for our own beliefs.

Society is very judgmental. Anyone who wishes to follow his dream by joining a college or taking up a course of his choice is considered a lunatic and is branded inferior. Anyone who tries to voice his opinion is either not heard or is blackmailed. Where will the solution come from? Courage, a collective step will terrify the system, if the youth doesn’t unify and take a stance, there will be no solution and we will be stuck in an infinite loop which is guided by following others footsteps even if it means curbing our own freedom/right.

2. The Blame Game.

This country just like many others loves the blame game; no one likes to take up the responsibility for a situation. They just do not have to, bodies like the judiciary itself move at a snail’s pace. Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev and their small troop might look like the ‘Justice League’ of this country but the Lokpal bill is not the one-stop solution to end corruption in this country. Though the bill promises a lot, a country where economics is a problem and inflation or recession is the order of every quarter or fiscal one should look at stabilizing the present infrastructure rather than opening a new one which will again open itself for the ever growing plague in India called ‘corruption’. A body operating at a national level will for most certain have bugs in its system because there is a dependency on a huge work force. This work force is where one of the major solutions exists. Let’s bring in the youth here; again there is a problem, who is willing to work for such a body? Hardly a few. We just like every other major sector of this country (media, opposition) will end up blaming the Lokayuktas/Lokapals. We relish on this opportunity, don’t we?

3. Societal influence.

We all want our parents to be happy, they worked hard for us and now it’s our turn. Prestige and bragging rights are what one looks for in this society. No one wants to look inferior and hence they force us into whatever they believe is right (marriage, education). For this not to happen, you either run away from your family or stay in your place and work it out for yourself by not being gullible. People are beginning to understand this, at a slow but sure pace. It’s about time that we prove it to the society that there are other ways we can shoulder the responsibility. A massive task for the youth indeed.

The collective solution is certainly not subversive; it is rather very much aversive and includes things such as a large scale lampoon, which will expose the loopholes to the public openly. There are many other problems that surround the youth like our extreme fascination (bordering on fanaticism) with celebrities, constant whining, the belief that possession of money is the higher principle of happiness and life and blind belief in relationships. I can put the solution in easy terms- place youth where they are meant to be placed. Let this youth be a collective system that fights for the greater good, be self governed and a self sustaining system.

Though the solution is complex or appears surreal, there is still hope and enough time for proper contemplation

We are of the higher order and must live this once in a lifetime chance to the fullest. And fighting for a change gives you that satisfaction.