Youth and Ideology

The youth are now more conscious than ever before. We hear everything. We see it all. We think about issues that you may not know we do. We feel connected to a wide range of subjects. We know a lot about stuff. And we seek out knowledge more ardently than we may let on. The youth are not an ignorant bunch.

Society has set too many highs in life for us to chase. Money, technology and its gadgets, fame. And we love this way of life. In fact, we are always at a loss trying to comprehend that there ever was a different way. We know there was a time before telephones and before the internet was here, when life was ‘simpler’. And we are glad that we exist in this time, not before. See, this lifestyle is not forced on us by society. Which society? We are society.

Youth are no the leaders of tomorrow. We know that both the present and the future are ours to influence. We are eager to find a purpose and live it out. A lot is wrong in society; we are hungry to make a change. We thirst to chart our way and leave a mark for future generations. We are more alive now in all aspects of life, even though established regimes and bureaucracies tend to have little to no room for us, be it in the economic sectors or the political. A majority of the entrepreneurs who control our economies today got their feet in as youths. The politicians that we often dismiss as old folks drunk with power, are only that in deep because they took their first bite in their youthful days. Hence we know it is a fallacy to expect that they will hand over that which they worked hard for. We are ready to jump into the ring and compete for our place within and at the top.

The youth are not an ignorant bunch. Take a look at how radical we are, radical in all extremes. Often this is attributed to ‘brainwash’. I refute that. Our choices are our own. We have beliefs and ideologies that we hold as dear as life itself. And ideologies are in their nature quite often radical and extremely intoxicating. I admit that too often some of the ideologies held by a fair number amongst us are misinformed and illogical. And some of us are unconscious to these radical ideologies, until they put to test.

As youth, especially in Africa, we are faced with a lot of injustice and economic imbalances. Many among us still lack basic education and the resources to create a better alternative. Still, we use the opportunities we have, the networks at our disposal and the support we receive. We are creating the Africa we want. Simply look at all the social innovations and entrepreneurship projects initiated everyday. We are ready to do something about the challenges we face, because we don’t just want a better tomorrow, we insist on a better today.

So where do we start? By understanding and acknowledging who we are. The truth is that both a society and an individual are defined by their history. We can never move forward without first realizing where we are coming from, where we are going and where got stuck.