‘Youth’ is categorized as a
particular developmental stage in the process of growth. So the youth has to be
addressed as always ‘on the way to’. Having this in mind, if we look at certain
aspects of the youth animation, it is in a way is handicapped. The handicap is
often caused by several forces – an attitude of ‘anything will do’ (the animators may be well qualified and they may
have many things to talk on, just consider the young and old confreres having
plenty of resources saved in the hard disk and when the occasion comes, take a
topic and fire without considering the psyche and the spirit and the mentality
of the young at target). Suppose you take a session on the topic ‘spiritual
quotient’, the young people may not be aware of their own inner dimensions of
growth to understand the reality of the spiritual quotient. They may not
understand with the limited vocabularies they have in the built in language
they acquired (I don’t mean to say the language as a whole but the knowledge of
the language of the young). Language is a real barrier in getting across the
message we want to convey.
Language: in the Indian scenario, where
most speak their own dialects, it would be slightly defeating that we animate
them in English. The vernacular vocabularies are rich in symbolism. Hence,
capturing their minds with the lived context and the symbolized and signified
vocabularies would evoke feelings and greater depth in understanding.
Yet another handicap is our
understanding of the young as someone who needs to be kept busy all the time. Look at the way we animate them
through power points, jokes, animated videos, party songs and party games (some
do consider them as playing the role of breaking the monotony or creating in
them interest. I do not intend to mean that these are not necessary but I am
questioning its failure to get across the intended message)
What do we need to do? Start from
where they are – psychologically from the stage of growth and address the
issues of life and growth. Start from the SENSES, taking the cue from St.
Thomas Aquinas: there is nothing in the
intellect, which has not been first in the senses. Body and its related
issues need to be addressed to the young. These days there are many groups
conducting awareness programmes especially in the area of body awareness. Why is
it all? It is then indicative that we can reach the truth. We can reach God as
He reached us through Jesus Christ concretely manifesting Himself as a Fully Alive Human Being – Spiritual and
Embodied. We are bodily beings and we are always in touch with our body. There
is a great and an unmatched truth in the whole story of incarnation – God has
skin after all. We can touch him, feel him and He is historically grounded in
the person of Jesus Christ. We who partake in the mystery of Christ need to
feel the death of Christ in our bodies (as St. Paul would say). But it is good
to question how comfortable we are with our bodies? Do we feel the weight of
our bodies? Our body is a locus of the ‘spiritual’ as well as all sorts of
clinging. Just imagine a person dying, and notice his body movements, just
notice his hands, the hands that did many things is unable to move, finally one
has to leave. Now suppose that a dying man is holding your hand at his moment
of death, his clinging hands begin to give up the hold on you….. What do you
feel? The treasure is hidden in the field; can this field be our bodies? In
Bhagavad Gita our body is compared to a battle field, a field where in we fight
the forces of evil. Just think of the ancient asceticism the saints of ages
practiced in the ancient ages.
Why did Don Bosco insist his boys on the
mortification of senses? The body discipline? Is there some truth? Definitely there
is. Now coming to the point Sexuality is a key area to address to the young.
Sexuality and its related issues like sexual orientation – homosexuality,
lesbianism, heterosexual, etc.. need to be understood. The psycho-sexual
problems like masturbation, pornography, etc. need to be addressed to the
young. In India the young feel shameful to tell their problems to someone. So
there is a lot of hiding taking place in this regard (I do not say all the
young people, but majority need to understand their sexuality). One of my
students was confused. He asked me – brother, is it all right to have sex
before marriage? He thinks that it is not o.k, but influenced by the peers and
their generally held consensus agree that they should have an experience of sex
before marriage. What does it say? Uncertainty and confusion in the area of sex
and sexuality!!
Address the young on ‘relationship,
responsibility and love.’ Relationship and love need a true understanding. Lead
the young to a true understanding of it through true life stories, make them
aware of the manipulations (emotional) involved in it. Lead them to seek
sincerity and genuinety.
Make the young productive
consumers. We cannot deny the fact that we are consumers. We cannot merely
remain as consumers but we need to be productive. We are in a global locality
and our needs and wants are many. Being productive consumers requires
responsibility.
Create an attitudinal check. Lead
them to the awareness of “we need each other.” Tell them that independence is
only a myth and interdependence is a reality. Though our starting point is the
young person, we need to lead the young from the world of self to the other
(cue from the maxim “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”). Lead them to
appreciation for self and others (language, culture, faith, etc.)
These days, especially in India,
the internet culture is booming. The young learn a lot by seeing and hearing
and not much from reading. I would advocate a culture of reading (even in the
net). Man needs visions to live by. If there is a created vision, convictions
are built by reading. We form questions only when we know that there have been
experiences which we do not understand and we feel the necessity of an
expression. Questions emerge as one meets the demands of each day. These questions
get clarified through reading.
Address the current issues of
violence (not directly because they may not be interested in the details). What
we need to do is to make them aware that violence erupts first from within. Give
them examples from history and lead them to an understanding of ‘violence to
self’ (it could be a good theme). Connected with this is the point of “Hyper-reflection”.
This reflects the tendency of excessive attention to self. For the animators I recommend
the reading of “The Wounded Healer” by Henry J. M. Nouwen.
In the beginning youth ministry
in the catholic tradition had a thrust on giving solutions and giving a
definitive answer in the person of Jesus Christ without understanding what was
the real question of the young. I do not deny Jesus Christ but leading from the
Question to the Answer is a process and we need to accompany the young. How? First, address one’s own problems and seek
clarity and integration for oneself. When you have something only you can give.
When you have understood only you can present the young with clarity and
conviction.
Emphasize on the need for guidance.
They look to us. Today most young people look for answers (often a definitive
and convincing one. They want mathematical certainty. If they do not get it, they
look deep within. If it is not directed appropriately excessive reflection on
the self can be hampering.
Do they seek God? Definitely yes;
but what they need is personalization – a two-fold movement of upward down and
a downward up (upward down is what we get from life as we grow up, from
traditions, history, faith, etc. and the downward up is what we appropriate).
The topics for youth animation
can never be exhausted if we cater to the spirit of the young….. The above ones are only my reflections….
