Youth need signposts

EVERYDAY we meet crossroads. That is, we constantly make choices., big and small. This is how our life is. Thus, we can never exaggerate the importance of signposts, which are the criteria for judgments and the basis for decisions.

The other day, while negotiating an 18-km trail amid vast expanses of pineapple plantations that went into the foot of Mt. Kitanglad (Bukidnon), with all its dense growth of trees and wild plants, I was relieved and happy that the owner of the place I was heading put signposts in every junction along the way.

It was very easy to be confused and to get lost. The two paths of most of the crossings were hardly different from each other. And I immediately thought of how similar that observation was with most of my experiences in life.

Now that we have just concluded the World Youth Day in Sidney, Australia, I thought of the crossroad that the youth as a crucial stage of our life is, and the many pivotal choices they have to make, especially these days.

We know that the youth can be the meeting point of great potentials on the one hand, with all the effusive energy and creativity inherent in them, and on the other hand, also of possible destructive forces. Youth is that transitory part of life that is still seeking stability and maturity.

More than ever, today’s youth need clear guideposts. And I’m happy that as a way of addressing this need, the Vatican is regularly organizing the World Youth Day (WYD) held in different parts of the globe.

If only to give focus and attention to this concern, the WYD is already doing a lot. But I’m sure there are a lot more that can be done and are being done and achieved through it and from it.

First of all, it can monitor the running developments concerning youth life and ways. Everyone agrees that the youth phase is a very dynamic one. We need to constantly find the proper spiritual and moral moorings for their quickly-morphing ways.

This is no easy job at all. They can not be left on their own. Society and human development cannot be confined to purely youthful ways sans the check-and-balance, the wisdom and experience provided by the elders.

Thus, the elders somehow have to learn to adapt to how the youth think, speak and behave. This should not be that difficult if there will always be attention given to the youth.

No matter how creative, outlandish and rebellious their ideas and gimmicks are, the youth’s mind can easily be read and molded, their logic and rhetoric can be smoothly triangulated.

In fact, it’s not so much words and arguments that should be used, but more on affection and understanding, patience, constant presence and example. In short, the approach is more of the heart than of the mind.

We need to help them tackle their usual vulnerabilities—mostly things of the flesh as well as the need for focus, direction and constancy. Then we need to show them how to live by faith, how to pray, and understand the meaning of suffering in all its forms.

Early on, they should be made to understand the intrinsic relation between freedom and responsibility, freedom and obedience to authority, spontaneity and naturalness, independence and solidarity, etc. They have to learn to see God in everything and in everyone.

The environment should be made as conducive as possible to the proper maturation of the youth. We have to avoid pandering to their weaknesses. Their integral development—physical, intellectual, spiritual, moral, etc.—should be enhanced.

In difficult situations where seemingly conflicting values are involved, as in blending creativity and novelty with our dignity, common in the field of entertainment, there has to be clear infusion of the spiritual and supernatural values.

I believe this tricky duty can be done without compromising the full weight of both material and earthly values, on the one hand, and the spiritual and supernatural ones, on the other. We have to acquire the appropriate skills.

In the end, what is really important is that the youth be with Christ, knowing how to discern and follow God’s will. When they have this, they can be in any crossroads, and they would instinctively know which way to choose.