We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values
We talk too much but love too seldom
We’ve added years to life but not life to years
We’ve cleaned up the air but polluted the soul
We write more but learn less
We plan more but accomplish less
–George Calin-
The young woman of today: shiftless, egocentric, hypersensitive to criticism and unable to cope with stress. The young man on the other hand: hopelessly insecure, obsessed with toxic masculinity, expects to buy affection and believes there’s a shortcut to success.
“The world is changing fast. Enjoyment is basically the order of business, ‘parte after parte’. Women quaff a bottle of ‘Konyagi’ faster than they would a glass of milk on a Monday morning and go on with their business in the day as if nothing happened. Communication is being faced out by the day. It is either ‘don’t call without texting first’ or ‘we are too busy to reply to some texts’. We put unrealistic demands on each other and get mad when they are not met.” -Unknown-
The dilemma of our age is this: what is logical is not always practical, what is practical is not always right, what is right is not always ethical, what is ethical is not always desired, what is desired is not always logical…….and the cycle continues.
It appears that our generation wasn’t really sat down and taught the value of intimacy, or opening up, or communication, or the sanctity of committing to just one person and forging that connection. That is why we emphasise rights over duties and choice over obligation; that explains why our relationships and marriages do not work.
Our parents do not really know us. Worst is that they think they do. They raised us up in fear and we grew up fearing them, so we have always hidden our lives from them. As adults, they do not know we stopped going to church, are depressed, anxious, addicted to sex and alcohol and have a very difficult time navigating through school and work.
We are so keen on taking away the sanctity of sex. We have taken away the ‘procreation’ and substituted it with ‘recreation’ and that is why in this century, chastity (virginity) and patience are no longer virtues. The joy and security that comes with sexual purity has been replaced by the pride of having multiple sexual encounters. As such, we have become universally perverted due to the glorification of nudity and fornication. The rules of love are being redefined; casual relationships are becoming more embraced and infidelity is being normalized. This ‘one big bedroom’ syndrome has disarmed us of our morals and dignity.
The time of our youth is a time of great risk and a time of great opportunity. It is a time of great opportunity in that never again in our lives will we be able to learn new things; never again will it be so easy for us to be the people we hope to be. The risk is that we fail to realize and fail to act now.
I hope we realize that the search of youth is not for all-permissibility, but rather to new ways of directly facing up to what truly counts. Now that we live in an age where outside influences, not individual preferences, decide what is stylish and fashionable, let us walk back in the memory lane to the yester years when an elderly statesman counselled, “In matters of style and fashion, swim with the current. In matters of principle, stand like a rock”
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