Are today’s youths our future leaders?

Lovemore Ranga Mataire
In  Isaiah 3 verse 5, the prophet Isaiah says, “the young will rise up against the old.” It is clear that the fulfilment of this prophecy spells disaster in the cohesion of the nation. There used to be time when youth rebelled against age in order to usher in new epochs. But when youth rebel against parental authority to pursue hedonistic decadence then we can be sure that what is being ushered in is nothing but social disintegration.

Youths should be the barometer of a nation’s moral and social well being but if the behaviour witnessed at the recent Zim-Dancehall Shutdown gig at Gwanzura Stadium and the skirmishes between some youths and police in the city centre on New Year’s Eve are anything to go by then we are in a state of decay.

Indeed, what sort of society rears up thugs, rapists and substance abusers?
Sadly, it is a society that has lost its way socially and spiritually. Surely one cannot exonerate the elders of our society in all this mess as some of them are accomplices.

We all look askance as young girls hop in and out of bars, cars of sugar daddies, and STD clinics.
We need to earnestly ask ourselves what we can do to deal with this corruption that is entrenching itself in our social fabric. We need to ask ourselves how we can deal with a whole generation whose thought processes seem to be concentrated on their genitals.

Society must come to terms with the fact that there used to be times when moral questions were simple and easily resolved. The extended family then was still functional and a sense of unity prevailed.

People generally shared a common identity, common values and goals.
Sadly, the 21st Century ushered in rapid changes in material base and the advent of the information age coupled with bloodthirsty capitalism have wrecked havoc on the social fabric.

Yes, it can be argued that all moments of transition in history are hostile, restless and if society is fragile it can self-destruct.
But can what is happening in our youths be termed a historical moment of transition or it’s just a society that has abrogated its duty as a tour guide in the lives of its youth?

Ill-prepared for the rapid liberalisation of the economy and already spiritually decimated by more than hundred years of cultural and political imperialism, we now find ourselves at the mercy of new galls in the information age that expose our youth to vacuous lifestyles, not all of them productive.

Many young people today live in more affluent conditions than their counterparts did two decades or more ago. Pampered, and brought up in relative ease, this generation incessantly clamours for freedom and ill-understood rights, which they believe their counterparts enjoy in the West.

They conveniently forget that freedom is not synonymous with irresponsibility, for freedom is accompanied by a whole host of responsibilities. Indeed, freedom demands more from those who are supposed to enjoy and benefit from it. Unfortunately, our youths with their heads buried deep in the scented clouds of Hollywood and their feet firmly planted in air, want to enjoy the fruits of freedom without owning up to its obligations.

Moreover, the activities they deem to be their God-given right to pursue at best signal their immaturity and at worst point to their moral bankruptcy. The movies and music they watch and listen to lead them to believe that sex without consideration is “cool” and when orphaned parenthood occurs, they quickly discover that things are not as easy as thought.

Not surprisingly, they not only shirk their responsibilities but also rush back to the very same parents whose authority and wisdom they assumed to be obsolete.

However, it is that guidance that our youth are finding non-existent. Guidance and role models and it is in this regard that parents should hold themselves accountable for the wayward behaviour of the youth.

The youth constantly scour the horizons of the adult world in search of role models to emulate and help them interpret the signs of the times in an idiom they can comprehend. Yet it is the same adult world that is infested with sordid and incorrigible activities that defile our sense of moral aptitude.

Even the church which used to be a sanctuary for morality and anything decent has now degenerated into a sanctuary of paedophiles, rapists and general abuse of the weaker sex by men of cloth.

It must therefore be understood that despite their seeming assurance, our youth are in actual fact overwhelmed and confused by the chaos brought about by the current upheaval.

Their decadence must thus be interpreted as cries in the dark for help and direction. It echoes their frustration and dead-end tunnel vision in dire need of salvation.