Common future of the Confuse Generation

Thursday 16 June South Africa commemorates the 35th year since the Soweto student uprising.  The day is about more than the death of Hector Petersen and many other. Hundreds of young people stood up for what they believed was right, tragically leading to the death of many.

Most of the young people under 25, that I atleast know, show either little or no interest in this historic day. This happens with reason as most would say why dwell in the past if we have a future to work towards, why talk and talk about what happened and not what could be done?

Politicians will be delivering speeches to celebrate the youth’s role in our democracy, where young people stood up for what was wrong in the 1970’s, and while their words might differ – their messages comes down to the same thing – the youth of 2011 also face challenges.

Our unemployment rate amongst the youth is not what it should be, gangsters rule neighbourhoods being a source of comfort for so many. Drugs are used like I would eat sweets, if you don’t have a child before you are 21 then you not really that cool.

Despite these challenges our youth is good in technology, I’m probably wrong with my statement but I reckon there’s more young people on Mxit, Facebook, Blackberry messenger, Twitter, The grid, eBuddy, Nimbuzz and other social networks, than there’s members of church youth groups.  

While some refer to the youth as the lost or new generation, I think it’s the confuse generation. We confuse because:

• Some say there are no opportunities while there’s so many we just can’t decide what to go for.
• We think following friends is cool, and not thinking as an individual
• We think what we see, hear and our parents go through should also happen to me
• We sometimes don’t want to come out our comfort zones

The Nobel peace laureate, former President Nelson Mandela during the Young Christian World Council in 1995 said “young people are reaching out to other to build a common future. This demands emotional maturity and moral strength.”

You can’t blame the so called lost generation for not caring about historic moments. The past is important and while we should learn from the past we need to work on the present to move towards the future.

I thus agree with Tata Madiba – young people in their own unique way try and reach out to build a common future, sometimes society just tend to

• Not see this
• Criticize the youth
• Reject the youth
• Judge young people

The common future Tata talks about is not just a common future amongst the youth but also all spheres of society.

At a church youth day event in Zuurbekom 1997, Mandela told young people “become pioneers of reconstruction and development, by your example you will be helping ensure that South Africa indeed becomes the country of our dreams.”

Building this common future would thus seek the moral strength and emotional maturity of all recognizing, informing, educating, motivating, encouraging and accepting the youth.