THE BRISK YOUTH

THE BRISK YOUTH

       

We hold the period of youth sacred to education, and the period of maturity, when the physical forces began to flag, equally sacred to ease and agreeable relaxation.

Edward Bellamy (1850 - 1898)

Who is a youth?

Crabbed age and youth cannot live together:
Youth is full of pleasure; age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn, age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave, age like winter bare.

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

            According to Dr. Leoni Mcsweeney, youth is an exciting time, a time of awakening to maturity. It is that stage between childhood and maturity. Youth is the season of credulity. It is one malady of which one becomes cured a little every day. 

            The youth of today is undoubtedly the most blessed of any group of young people in history. The current generation of youths exist in a world of technological advancement that produces things that previous generations only dreamed about, high level of education, and economic development, which has lifted many families out of poverty. Indeed they have many advantages. But they also face unprecedented challenges, amongst which is a declining rate of learning due to the lack of enthusiasm and time. Their time is mostly channelled to things of lesser importance.

Who is the brisk youth?

It is the malady of our age that the young are so busy teaching us that they have no time left to learn.

Attributed to Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

            We are the youth of today. We are the hope of tomorrow. We are the future of our motherland. According to George Bernard Shaw, ‘all that the young can do for the old is to shock them and keep them up to date’. Do you know what the youth have over the old? The youth have vision. The old, dreams. We need to  generate the gusto to learn, to discover hidden secrets that have always remained unknown and could remain unknown if we do not act.

            We are faced by one major problem as we advance, fear. We experience fear in four forms. The fear of others, the fear of disgrace, the fear of failure and the fear of witchcraft. Many resort to drinking in other to prop up their courage to face these fears. We must learn to cope with our fears. It is one of the most crippling forces in the world.

            The brisk youth is he who is willing to learn, willing to share his knowledge with others, willing to help bring change to his society through his knowledge, willing to face his fears. He is one who is ready to attain full maturity, intellectual maturity, social maturity and emotional maturity.