We cannot always build the future on our youth, but we can build our youth for the future. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
I was asked to give some insight on the youth in our nation, their challenges as well as their strengths and to bring a perspective on the role that the service clubs may play in assisting in producing well-rounded citizens. The occasion was the first quarter zone meeting of the Optimist Barbados.
I want to say instead that youth are our greatest resource and for that reason, the youth is to be cherished by the adults. But not only must the adults cherish the youth but the youth must cherish themselves.
Youth is a period of dreaming, a period of fun and frolic, a period of great expectations, a period of exploration and experimentation, a period of shaping and being shaped; a period of awe and admiration for the grandeur of nature, a period of achievement, a period during which mistakes will and can be made; a period that once it passes cannot be recalled.
Youth is all that and much more.
From the age of 14, the late Prime Minister David Thompson knew that he wanted to be Prime Minister of Barbados. Not only did he know, but he positioned himself, he groomed and prepared himself for and pursued that dream with every ounce of his being.
I want to suggest that as we look at the true nature of youth, the greatest tribute we can pay to his memory is, like him, to live a life driven by a goal; driven by a purpose that engages you and consumes you if necessary. For it is better to be consumed by a purpose than to drift though life without one.
If I were to hazard a guess as to the greatest challenge facing [the youth], I would want to suggest
it is that of the constant bombardment of information from all the sources and different avenues from which it comes. Then, there are the numerous contradictions from us, the adults, who erroneously tell them to do as we say but not as we do.
My advice to the youth is that they should not see the challenges as problems but as opportunities. Information overload is not a problem, it is an opportunity to use creativity to rummage through that barrage of information and to extract what is of use and of benefit to your growth and development.
The strength of youth is youth itself. It is within youth that lies your potential, that is the power to become what you want to become. It is within your youth that lies your creative abilities. Most important, it is the youth to whom we look for the hope of the future. The strength of our youth therefore is that they represent a powerful and tremendous resource for the future. For bound up in each of them is a building block for our future.
Combermere School shaped David and laid the foundation for his tremendous achievements as an individual, as a lawyer, a politician and a Prime Minister. The question for the youth to ask is who or what is shaping them? What or who is helping to lay that foundation that will help them like David to have that solid base?
Just before he died, David asked us to rally around the causes for which he fought. What are the causes around which our young people are rallying? What are the causes for which they are willing to fight and if necessary like David give their lives? Someone has said: You must stand for something or you will fall for anything. What are the things for which young people are prepared to stand?
Service clubs like the Optimist therefore can go the distance in providing alternative behaviours and attitudes that can blot out and erase the negatives labels that are often placed on many of our young people. Through such clubs, the youth can develop leadership skills, broaden their horizons and carve out a clear career path for themselves.
Clubs like the Optimist can help the youth develop social skills and foster close positive relationships with adults outside of the home. They provide opportunities for students to work outside the traditional curriculum.
They play a role in establishing networks for job acquisition after school. Optimists must be about developing a student-centred focus that pays attention to meeting the needs of the students and meeting them where they are.
Clubs like the Optimist can facilitate bonding with students from other schools and create opportunities for involvement in wholesome activities thereby offering positive alternatives to the negative choices some young people make.
Such clubs give the youth a “can do” attitude that replaces the often heard “can’t” and empowers the youth to make changes in their lives, in the lives of others and within their community.
The Optimist clubs in Barbados must be lauded for the role they continue to play in laying the foundation for the development of well-rounded citizens.
• Matthew D. Farley is a secondary school prinicpal, chairman of the National Forum On Education, and a social commentator.
