Youth Sanity In Crazy Culture by Santosh Jha (read e book TXT) 📖

artistry of accommodation and peaceful coexistence has to be labeled as ‘trouble’ because, social system works on these golden principle of peaceful coexistence. We shall talk about it later.

It is somehow very unfortunate that when a young of a family shows up its inquisitiveness, the grownups have very little time to spare for the adolescents as we all live in a very complex and fast world. Even if they spare their time and attention, they are too prompt to disallow the inquisitive nature of young, which is usually full of instinctive logic and equalitarian appeals.

Still, the fact remains that, you as a new entrant into this world, have to be more aware and more accommodative about all the circumstances, which may not be in your favor. The simple reason for this is – first, you are a new entrant and second, you have to evolve and grow to later be in the position, where you shall create a better world for your own young ones. The more important reason is – you are still the true genius of the world, as you have still not been made a stupid, which usually people become when they grow up. That is why; you shall adjust more to be more in touch with better learning avenues. This is something, which shall benefit you hugely.

You are still new to this world, which has its own set of conflicts and hypocrisies. The world is what it is, neutral and objective. You are entering it for the first time. The hypocrisies and conflicts all wait for you and they shall be unleashed on you in a neutral way. You need to see and understand all these hypocrisies and conflicts. You are the genius and you can.

You shall see and understand; much to your initial discomfort that the real trouble is not usually with adolescent mind and teenage behaviors-actions. Rather, it is with the grown up world. The grownups live in a world, which has been constructed on the platform of life and living contradictions, manufactured and synthetic conflicts, unnatural premises and restrictive behaviors and actions. You shall grow up to see the negative side of our cultural evolution as humans.

Naturally, you as a young mind, which has not yet been exposed to it, will think instinctively and your mind would justify things you believe in, as the natural behavior would guide you. This would stand you in conflict with the rules and accepted norms of the grown up world. The grownups being in command of resources and authority tools, will disallow the young rationality. This in turn would confuse and conflict the youth, resulting in dysfunctional behavior pattern among them. This you have to guard against.

It seems very credible that the solution is not in negating youth instincts and rationality but in educating them about the world as it is and also about sharing their minds with appreciation and adult respect.

For example, a teenage boy sees his father doing something with full authority and social acceptance and so he would also demand to do it. However, he may not be allowed, as it may sometime be against prevalent law, social rules, cultural practices or family norms. However, it will be utterly wrong to discourage the desire of teenager and scold him or her for this. Rather the teens should be taken in confidence and told that he or she would also do it someday when he or she will fulfill a certain achievement in life as, nothing in life comes free and without frills.

The simple life philosophy is not to negate youth inquisitiveness and instincts rather educating them about various aspects of life and living that conditions decision-making and choices. Even if this involves hypocrisy and conflict, the young must be educated about it. That need to learn those aspects of life and living that evolves them in a positive way, inculcating a pride and respect in them, which is core component for their healthy and positive growth. Logic fills all empty spaces in mind and that is why; logic to anyone cannot be negated and denied.

You, as a youth need to understand and accept that there are some thoughts and ideas, which shall come to your mind, just because you are in a mid-situation of life. Every stage of life has its associated thought and emotional outcomes. As a teenager, you shall have the following thoughts and emotions, which you must understand and accept. They are –

What is happening to you may sound exclusive and novel to you but it is essentially common to all humans in their growth towards adulthood. You have just entered this world but this world you see is thousands of years old. All humans have common mechanism of body-mind consciousness and what you feel is something common to most in your age. The sense of novelty of idea or emotion is exciting to you but may not be same with all those, who have gone past it. The gap between you as a teenager and those grownups is imminent. Most conflicts of interest, which you have, shall automatically be resolved, if you see it this way.

Most of your troubles and issues as teenager are usually very normal and they are generally a passing phase, with very high prospects of you coming out of them as winners if you have the right information and objective assessment capability. That is why; you need to focus less on troubles and issues at hand and more on your inquisitive mind, which shall lead you to attain more information and knowledge, finally solving your problems.

You have just entered this vast world of knowledge and growth and that is why you feel confused and at loss. As you are gradually exposed to the worldview and existing knowledge of humanity, you shall find that already this world has answers to most of your queries and troubles. Then you shall feel assured and at peace. So, be patient and give yourself some precious time.

Let us understand all this with the help of a true story. It happened with someone very close to me and I am so happy to share it with you. This true story has all ingredients of teenage troubles and also has the idea, which we have talked so far.

As it is with all teenagers, this boy in our story had issues with the discipline he was always loaded with. He was 13 years old and had started to develop his own set of thoughts and emotions. Discipline as the greatest morality was not always acceptable to him as he saw it as a tool of smothering his natural inquisitiveness.

When he was in class six, he had once dared to speak his mind and his question, which he considered very valid and innocent, had landed him in deep trouble. His question related to something, which had become a routine in his school. There would be seven periods in weekdays in his school and in all periods, the teachers would assign homework. The homework of all seven periods became so cumbersome that he could not complete them even when he studied for three hours in the evening after playing cricket for one hour.

The next day, he would invariably be punished by teachers whose homework he could not complete. Someday, he would be lucky to complete homework of all seven periods but half of the days in the week, he would be punished in at least two periods for not completing the tasks. He would not be alone, as at least five-six others would be lined up for similar offences.

One day, he was about to be punished when he stepped back, withdrawing his hand away from the trajectory of the stick of his teacher and asked, was it right that he be burdened with homework in all seven periods? The question infuriated the teacher and he was not only beaten with stick but with slaps and fists.

The ordeal did not end here. He was produced before the school principal. The teacher complained to the principal that he had breached the discipline of the school by refusing to do his homework and then publically protesting against homework and punishment. The principal suddenly got serious. He told the teacher that if this boy remained in the school, it would set a wrong precedent for other students. His simple question was labeled by the principal as something like a mutiny.

He was beaten up hard but he did not say a word more. He however still felt what he had asked was a simple question and it was not even a protest, let alone a mutiny. The principal immediately passed the order to expel him from the school. Back home, nobody bothered to know his version of the story and he was scolded badly for being an undisciplined boy. The principal relented only after his father gave him in writing that he would behave properly in future.

Years after this incident, the same boy went back to his school in an ‘Old Boys Association Function’ and the principal, who had expelled him from the school was there. Both laughed at the incidents, which happened 20 years back. However, he asked the principal why he did not believe his words then and why he did not accept his version that he had just asked an innocent question and it was no rebellion.

The principal answered him, “I believed you and knew that what you had done was no rebellion or indiscipline. Your question was natural and innocent. Still I had to take the action, which I took because it was required for the smooth functioning of the school. Discipline is a notional thing. It is accepted only when it is taken as something indispensible, objective, nonflexible and unpardonable. If I allowed you the luxury of asking a question, it would dent the discipline mould and then it would be ineffective as a tool. There were a thousand students in the school and if everyone asked a question, discipline would have been very difficult to maintain. If I allow one question, there shall be deluge of questions and answering all these questions shall be one major trouble, which would take the focus away from teaching. I was a principal and my duty was to maintain educational sanity. I did what you too would have done, had you been in my position.”

The idea behind the story is what we have talked earlier. How the world works is one reality. It has its own rules and own hypocrisies. They are there as objective and neutral systems. One may find himself or herself on the wrong side of the prevailing system. Others still are benefitting from the same system. What you as an adolescent can do is accept them as necessary burdens. You can well stick with your natural and innocent inquisitiveness. You shall have the time and chance to change the world, when you shall be in the position, when you create or preside the system.

However, what as a teenager you must have as a cushion is your family, especially parents. The societal system or cultural benchmarks are all aimed at objectivity and neutrality. They cannot bend even a little for you. Like the student in above story, the society system shall not allow you even a small concession, from its fixed standpoint as it is designed for groups and collectivity. It is the family, which is a place where you have lots of personalized and individualistic space. It is important for you to have a good and meaningful communication with your parents and family members. They shall be supportive in allowing your natural inquisitiveness to have better working space.

However, you have to accept the world as it works. You should always believe in your inquisitiveness and remain confident with the innocence of your questions. Righteousness is often a societal and cultural idea. They work as per their own logic, which you shall understand when you grow up. You can change them when you get the chance