Some things to think about on the international day of youth

Today is the international day of youth.

In a recent conversation a highly dedicated teacher of a remote Sri Lankan village school was narrating public shaming meted out by teachers on teenagers. These are for trivial matters such as finding a romantic letter to a fellow student in mixed school atmospheres or an admiring comment by a teen male student about a female teacher said to a classmate (and subsequently reported to the principal). In some instances the particular student has come near suicide, after being shamed in front of parents and thereby labelled forever as ‘vulgar.’ 

In most cases the incidents which could easily have been a mere laughing matter associated with growing up and meriting some minor stricture, had been blown completely out of proportion. 

The teacher who was telling of these incidents was a wisdom endowed individual with over three decades in education, serving most rural schools but was still struggling to deal with such issues. One of his concerns was preventing the teachers from grossly exaggerating matters and making it the lunchtime discussion theme. 

“Most teachers forget they were youth too once,” he quipped as he genuinely put his once upon a time teenage self in the shoes of his students and had managed to intervene to prevent major disasters to the young lives concerned.

He then went onto narrate about suicides that occur among students in general in the country and one recent incident where after receiving high marks at an examination the student committed suicide by swallowing poison. 

Of course there are two ways of dying. One is to die in actuality. The other is to live a half dead life, purposeless, stressed out and utterly fatigued, without joy or contentment. 

In a day that commemorates youth we should also commemorate teachers and parents because they are the adults that shape the minds of those who are the future. These adults can make a young life bloom or kill a youth with their behaviour and attitude or they can influence them to live half dead lives. 

Tired, frustrated and overwhelmed teachers and parents who themselves venerate memorisation so that their children can get into jobs ‘of prestige’ cannot inculcate a moderate, insight based conduct in either themselves or the youth they are responsible for.

The discussion with the above mentioned teacher concluded with prioritising the importance of sports, both indoor sports such as chess and outdoor sports as well as aesthetics/arts, the importance of letting both teachers and students revel in the joy of knowledge, in the wonder or a book and in the magnanimous mysteries of nature.

This is best ended with what this teacher said at the end explaining a small initiative he had started recently. “A few neighbouring families in our area in Kekirawa gathered and decided we would just gather quietly on a full moon day and admire the moon. Just sit still and watch the moon,” he said. 

What a wonderful and simple exercise to create beauty of mind. What if all teachers and students just sit still and observe the beauty of the moon. A poetic mind is a mind that revels in calm and will not be prone to do evil. What is required then is to encourage this kind of mindset in youth and adults both, so that no evil is done to either themselves, fellow beings, both humans and animals and nature.