As I was thinking of what it would look like adding values to my peers across the globe, I had these feelings that values are fast fading and this piece might not receive same welcoming perspective globally.
However, the first thought that struck me was the truth that our views notwithstanding, there is a leveler to all human existence and that is the reality of time. We may have the grace of looking back and appreciate how much of time we have invested rightly or wrongly as we aspire to reach some goals set in our early years.
Except we can premise what we have been able to achieve along the path of pressure of peers or even our family which of course is still subject or should be subject to our natural potentials, we may have some natural resentment against how much time we discovered have been wasted doing the wrong things.
So, we have to deeply reflect on our time and understand what has to be done so that we may be able to measure our development in terms of career, achievements and possibly spirituality and be glad that certain things have been done rightly. The best way to prove that is through confidence of fulfillment; not even material or financial accumulation.
As young people, all over the world, we live in a very challenging time. Values are getting eroded, the planet in which we live is facing a very deep threat through climate change and global warming. The career challenges are enormous; roles of the genders are getting swapped and the social tension is becoming so alarming.
The youth of today is existing in a very combative time. There are reasons to panic everywhere because of violent agitations across the globe. Africa is getting increasingly finding itself in difficult situation. Nigeria is going through series of terror that was unknown to it before 2009, Mali just witnessed a coup d’etat. Arab is settling down from the perilous Arab Spring while Syria is still deep into it. Europe witnessed massive street protests; there are panic of natural disasters everywhere.
In all these, the youth is at the center. Most of the man-made threats and destructive tendencies cannot be achieved by any despot except with the consent of the youth. Hence the need to prick our conscience and alert our peers on the dangers inherent in choosing the bad path which might get us distracted, leaving us with regrets; some with endless pains, deformation, psychological imbalance or even death.
The time of a youth according to this piece is assumed to be between age 18 and 45. This age bracket places immense pressure on those within it to aspire and overcome some challenges; ranging from education, career, family, business, financial decisions and others. It is expected that this period should peak the productivity time of an individual because of energies and sharpness of the cognitive abilities.
Most achievers make remarkable marks within this age grade and we have many proves to feel so. Many who achieved remarkable feats in their chosen fields have done so when very active; some became professional gurus, business moguls, tycoons, political leaders, world-class preachers, great motivators, great models and others.
Faced with these, we, as youths must understand what lays ahead and make deliberate efforts to live above boards. No great warrior can pull down a territory or kingdom without us. That is evident in the glory of our strength and soundness of mind; we are known to be swift, have strong wits and very daring.
We can begin to see why we cannot appear to be apathetic in the way we live our individual lives, the views we hold about leadership, our roles in the home, nation building, our perception about other people around us and the roles we must play in all these.
Let me remind us that we are the weapon and ingredients of positive change. If the youth of any nation chose to gravitate the right way through a reformed mindset, no one can stop them. This is our time, we must politely put our feet down to start to build our nations from our homes.
This requires that we begin to review our negative views about our self worth, the values of others and the power of teamwork even in the home. We have to position ourselves as models to our siblings and be seen to place values above gains.
Today’s youth must realize that the period of youthfulness is so slippery and not eternal. Some say life is short. There is no better gauge than is trying to recall the time you have lost to performing a task that would have been beneficial. Youthfulness is not endless, we must commit our hearts to things that add values to our immediate environment, our community and society and then bear the impact it would have on the global platform.
It is not too early for the youths to start thinking of worthy legacies to be left behind for our succeeding generations. In fact, that is how great minds think. They came and witness an existing gap in any system and make every effort to bridge such gap.
Time is not on our side, but the one we have at hand is an asset. The power of global relationship have been negatively annexed by most youths when it could be an opportunity to enhance our value system. Let the youths of the world raise a banner; we can resist to be indolent, we can say NO to violence. We can determine not to be negatively used and dumped by despots, terrorists and ignore their pressure.
Our time is our asset. It would take a strong persuasion for one to grow old and discover how bad a son, a daughter, a brother, a father, a teacher, a leader, a model and so on that he has been and regret how much has been wasted because the time of the youth is wasted and gone forever.
For those who believe in God, we must rely on the grace of God. This earth is not an accident or just a natural occurrence or coincidence. The relational sequence and inter-dependency of creations prove it. We can rely on God for wisdom and direction to be focused and make impact.
Secondly, we must live an uncompromisingly disciplined life. It is not easy to resist evil in the midst of very corrupt and stinking world we live in. Criminality and vices come to us cheaper and easier but we can make landmark influence if we stand for something strong, valuable and positive.
This time is our asset. Let us live it to be remembered for the good of our world. Great mind live for others, smaller ones live for themselves. Let us determine to make others happier, satisfied and grateful to God for coming in contact with us.
We can surely use the assets coded in our youthfulness to make our world a better place.
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