Youth and Society

Today the young people in our society, church is not exception, have potential to contribute substantially to the overall growth of our nation in different ways but unfortunately the pace of growth is very slow because the youth are wasting their energy for wrong things.  News about disturbing incidents which involve youth and students are becoming headlines. Students carrying knives and lethal weapons like pistol and going on rampage in campus is no more unusual.

So, the question we need to ask is why have our young friends become more violent than ever before?  Probably, developments in internet facilities, excessive violence in movies, the increase in the number of television channels from abroad and India, developments in communication technology and easy availability of weapons, etc are some of the most important reasons for such a violent attitude among the youth. Adding fuel to the problem, there has been a decrease in the vigilance by parents on their children's activities. Most of the parents go for work in the wee hours and return only late in the evening thus the children have been getting a lot of free time to do whatever they like in the free time. If the youth of our churches spend their valuable time for productive purposes then our nation will get benefited in many ways.

Lack of education among the parents, the quarrels among them, lack of awareness about the importance of discipline in life, economic factors, cultural and social factors are some other reasons for poor character levels among some youth. For instance due to poverty some youth dropout from the educational institutes and involve in anti social activities including theft. If the relationships between parents are strained some children may leave the house and become orphans leading to a directionless life due to lack of guidance, love, security and support. In some cases the youth would become bonded laborers, child laborers, etc due to debts, crop losses, and other family problems.

In India we have numbers of youth organizations and clubs which are good for our society but they should involve more in productive activities. For instance there is a need to create awareness in the society about many aspects of life such as the importance of voting, value of a disciplined life, importance of non-violence, truthfulness, educating the masses about law, and many such issues which play an important role in their day to day life.  In this way the youth of our great nation should cultivate all those habits which contribute to the overall well being of our people. Such an attitude would help them in becoming role models for the future citizens. This is a mission that youth, especially church youth, must realize and witness Christ by acting in a responsible manner.

Kasta Dip