Youth, it’s problems and the Parish

Many have dealt in the past with Youth. Many have tried to provide solutions to its problems. To present an image – a true likeness of all those problems which the young face today.

Many have spoken and many speak about youth. Some in favour, others against. Some support, others condemn.

Our youth though continues along its way. Either following, copying or imitating.

It has been said that youth is the future of every nation. It has been specifically stressed that healthy youth is a guarantee for a healthy future society.

The young ones seem to be rebellious today. But are they really wrong? Could it be that their rebelliousness is the result of an inner fight, an outbreak originating from their inner world? A reaction to the many inconsistencies observed in today’s life? The great of this world cry for peace while they themselves violate the rights of the weak ones.

All human beings have problems. All, but especially the young ones. Their thorny problems vary. Working youngsters face different problems from students and pupils. Boys face different problems from girls. Youngsters who live in the cities face different problems from youngsters who live in the countryside. The rich, the poor. A variety of inner worlds causes a variety of problems. But the problems always ask for, demand, a solution.

By examining the problems which a young person faces today, one could say that they can be divided into five main categories

(a) financial problems

(b) problems that have to do with one’s profession

(c) family problems

(d) society problems

(e) spiritual problems.

Youngsters face problems in all these fields. Let’s look at these problems briefly.

a) In the first category the financial problem is the dominating one. All young people begin with certain plans, certain dreams. Everyone more or less has certain abilities, yet some stumble on the financial weakness of their family. They can not afford studies. Examples of youngsters who have managed to do so are very rare. In most cases what follows is a break down of all their dreams.

b) Next, and more relevant to the first, is the problem of employment. It becomes a nightmare for the one who has not attended college or university. He is looking for a job, a post. Anything. As long as he can survive.

He who has studied and can not find employment deals with the problem in a different way. He is willing, if there is no other way, to compromise. At least temporarily.

c) The family issue is vital too.

The young lady is worrying for her future, her marriage, while her financial situation can be desperate.

The same applies to the unemployed young man too.

It might even be worse for someone who works with a very low salary.

d) The problems of entertainment, friendship, relationship of the two sexes and marriage fall into the category of the society problems.

1. Entertainment: It is something essential for every man. Either young or old he needs and seeks entertainment. He is wondering how he can be entertained through the already knows means (cinema, theatre, dancing, singing, light literature, swimming, etc.).

He also seeks to express his inner inclination for creating inner bonds. He seeks to connect himself with people with the same mentality, education, cultivation.

He faces emptiness. He can not find the right person.

The problem of the relationship of the two sexes is also thorny. Usually it takes the form of either complete isolation or uncontrollable immunity. There is no in-between.

So what will the young man do? Will he seek a relationship?

Relevant to this is the problem of marriage too.Do the prerequisitions for the creation of a new family exist? Which way of life will be followed? Does he really know what he is expecting from a marriage? But, what does he expect?

e) The last category relates to the spiritual problems. The problem of believing and not believing. Existentialism, materialism, Pessimism and many others bring out a great shake to the young. They appal him.

Did all these show up for the first time today? Of course there have always existed relevant problems. But we specifically come across them today more often. The latest conceptions, new developments in the field of science, more materialistic bases as well as needs of our lives weave a change to it.

Man has ceased to be a human being, a personality. He has become a mere number. He is troubled, at the same time, seeing the absence of ideals from our lives. Where will he find them? Do they exist? Can they be created? Can they be transmitted? Are they inherited?

He hears so much sermons. Of various forms and content. Sermons of faith, non-believing, nihilism, carelessness. And he wonders: Why all these? Shouldn’t all these preachers practice all these that they preach? How many set examples? A young man once wrote: Instead of three thousand sermons from any one, I would prefer a living example.

All these have a direct and decisive impact on the course of the young man. His future, his evolution, his ascent (both spiritual and material) depends on the stand he will take. Depending on the solution he will give to the various problems.

Should we under the prism of all these problems examine the different extremist actions of the youngsters of our era? Strikes, riots, hysteric, expression, drugs (LSD, Marijuana, etc.) are phenomena of our times. But why all these? Sociologists have no answer for us.

What is important for us though is to provide a solution to their problems.

There are many ways to solve the problem.

First of all preparation is needed. Before going into the sea someone has to be taught how to swim. And when he is ready to swim, he must make sure that there is always someone nearby ready to help him against any danger he might face. We must help then the youngsters. In the proper way though. Like older friends.

We must stop demanding to be credited with authenticity and unmistakability. To accept their opinion.

We should stop believing that we are the only always correct ones.

Only dogmas cannot be questioned.

At the same time we must work-out how to become living examples. Of course the vocabulary we will use and the way with which we will approach the young ones are useful. Our example though has a much greater value.

To attract towards faith by believing ourselves. Not with words and show-offs. With our lives.

To inspire ideals. To set targets. To open up new courses.

Anyone who wants to help the younger ones though must have in mind a few specific issues. These require special handling and they are:

a. Imagination. Under proper control it becomes a

creative force.

b. Oversensitivity. Many times it leads to relapses and

unsteadiness.

c. Will. It requires special cultivation.

d. The quest for beauty.

At this point a few enemies will show up:

a. depression

b. boredom

c. introversion

d. a feeling of inferiority.

All these require effort, patience, persistency and praying.

Where will the young turn to? From whom can they expect help?

The only place (which also shows the way) is the Orthodox Church especially in the form of the parish. Here the young will stop worrying and feeling insecure. Here he will discover hi identity.

Here he will discover Christ. He will find Christ being lived and believed in, in the Orthodox way. He will be connected to Him and it will be for ever.

The parish will connect him with our tradition. It will provide way-outs from formalism and sinking into the secular frames of our century.

It will tell him about repentance. It will speak to him about community life and brotherhood.

It will show him how to strive to become like God after explaining to him how to avoid his individualism.

The parish will supply models of life and society. It will help him to avoid everything foreign and negative.

It will explain that in the parish he will find calmness and peace.

It will tell him about the two faces of our Orthodox tradition: holiness and sociability.

It will try to convince him, that the fight for freedom, democracy, justice and peace is given through the spiritual fight and is fought by the power of God’s Grace.

When we, the older ones, in spite of our weakness, prove to be genuine apostles of the poor and crucified Christ, always in the limits of the parish, then we will have the right to judge the wrong course which our youngsters might have taken at a certain phase of their lives and help them to return back to the pure and clean springs.

In the parish the lesson shall be cultivated through the example and dialogue.

With the right efforts of older and younger the parish with it’s church can again become the center of our lives. The center which will show the way towards our Christian survival on earth but also towards our eternal presence beyond the limits of the present word.

We are now at the verge of our entrance into Europe. I am afraid that this entrance of ours will be a bloody one. Are we ready to face the outcome? Sacrifices might be required from us in order to survive. Are we ready for them?

Let us all pray together so that the Lord will give us the strength to face any probable negative result of our goals. He told us so: “Ask and it shall be given”.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-23