A GENERATION WITH A SENSE OF DIRECTION

In a previous post titled “Where is the Human Race Going?” I spoke about the trend of spoilt nature among the youths of today.  In that I have mentioned that I shall write about the youths who are responsible and sensible, who show concern and are considerate to others.  I shall write about the other side of the coin in this post. If they are properly motivated and directed, we can do wonders through them. I remember our teachers telling us that we all have talents and energy; if they are not used for creative purpose, we tend to use it for destructive purpose.  Channelizing them for creative use is the remedy for vicious use of them.

To prove it, I can give numerous examples, but I wish to limit it to the activities of the youths of the Kottarakkara-Punalur Diocese of the Mar Thoma Church under the guidance of Rt. Rev. Dr. Euyakim Mar Coorilos, the Diocesan bishop. The youths of the Diocese initiated a project named “Snehamrudam” (meaning: life-sustaining potion of love) as a gift to the bishop to honor him during the silver jubilee of his consecration.  It was inaugurated on 20^th April 2014 and for the last 524 days, the youths of the diocese supply breakfast to 250 patients of the District Hospital, Kottarakkara and to 25 people who sleep in the pavement. 15 to 25 youths of the diocese gather together at 5 a.m. (considering the travel time, they must be getting up at 4 a.m. or even before) to pack the food and supply it to the above points. They do it voluntarily; without any kind of remuneration. We must also bear in mind that it is not a one day event; but an ongoing project! The project needs Rs. 7500 for a day’s food. When I talked to the co-coordinator of the project Rev. Jossey E. George, he said that more than a benevolent activity, a new culture has emerged from this and all who are involved does this with excitement and they look forward to involve with the project.

Another project that has emerged initiated by the youths of the diocese is the “Clean City, Green City” in which about 90 youths gather together to clean the Kottarakkara town area. They have become aware of the polluted environment they are in and they try to do their share in the remedy of it. I recall the saying in Malayalam “annan kinjum thannalaayathu” (the squirrel doing as it can). [To those who are not aware of the legend behind this saying:  When Seetha, the wife of Rama was taken to Lanka by Ravana, Rama wanted to rescue her.  He started building a way across the sea.  A squirrel seeing the activity dipped himself in the sea and moved to the land to be covered by sand.  This activity was going on while Rama saw this.  He asked the squirrel about it and the tiny creature said, “I am doing my share in helping Rama, the King, in building the road to Lanka.” Then Rama took the squirrel in his hand affectionately, ran his fingers over it and said “annan kunjum thannalayathu”.  The legend says that the three lines on the South Indian species of rabbits is the finger mark of the king Rama.

          If the energy and potential are properly channelized, our youths can do wonders.  The problem,  I assume, is not with the youths, but with the older generation who are not willing to encourage them to get involved in the day-to-day affairs even of their homes, leave alone that of the community. They are ‘trained’ to be selfish and ‘oriented’ to look for ways of making money. They are not taught to share and show concern. When they cannot ‘succeed’ as the parents want them to be, they look for ways of revenging their parents by destroying themselves. The destructive activities that we see around are mainly the wrong channeling of the potential and energy.

Catch them young, teach them young and orient them young; the outcome shall be incredible!