THE WISDOM IN YOUTH AND BEAUTY

A few years ago when I was still in the secondary school, a particular teacher of mine was fond of making a particular statement. She always told us that our generation was a “wasted generation”. At first, I saw it as a statement she made just because she felt like talking but later I realized that there was more to it.

Just as the popular saying goes “there is no smoke without fire”, I believe such a statement would not arise if people did not do stuffs that were in line with the statement. Take for example youths who are hired by bloodthirsty politicians. They are hired to intimidate anyone who does not vote for the candidate that hired them thereby making the whole election a total failure. Why should a person channel so much energy and vigour in something that is of no moral benefit to them? If you ask me that is a total waste of time and energy considering the fact that a youth is as a reservoir filled to the brim with first class energy.

Let us take a closer look at the implication of a wasted generation.

GENERATION: All of the people who were born at approximately the same time, considered as a group, and especially when considered as having shared interests and attitudes. (ENCARTA 2008)

WASTED: exploited when available, used without achieving any purpose

WASTED GENERATION: Putting the two together a wasted generation is one consisting of people who allow their selves to be exploited by others and most times have no purpose not to talk of achieving one.

From the above definition of a generation, we could say that the youths in Nigeria make up a generation we all belong to. So in other words my teacher meant that we (considering the fact that my school was located right here) are “a wasted set of youths”.

One would wonder why it is that wisdom is always attributed to old age. The truth is the adults in any given society believe that because they are ahead of us in terms of years and have seen more than we have they are entitled to the noun WISDOM. It is so because old people are seen to act based on anticipated results but most youths act based on intuition. I believe that the fact that one has white hair does not always qualify such a person as wise.

It has been stated that all those in the age bracket of 18 – 24 fall under the category of youths. Scientifically it is agreed that at this stage in any individual’s life he/she is seen to blossom (i.e. during this period they develop into more handsome and beautiful people, people whose brains operate at maximum). At this period, also many youths are carried away by their outward appearance forgetting to build their inner person. As a result, most of them turn out to be irresponsible, unfocused and above all ugly on the inside.

It is never wise to try to appear to be cleverer than you are. It is sometimes wise to appear slightly less so.

William Whitelaw (1918 - 1999)

Youths are known to be stubborn in admitting that they are actually less than what they want people to believe they are. Once you accept that you are on a particular level rather than pretending, you can then work towards attaining a particular height. The best way to do this is by taking ‘useful’ advice given by those who have already been there and investing in your mind. By doing this, you are maximizing your God given attributes and building your inner man. This is the best way to access and utilize the wisdom in youth and beauty.

(By Nnenne for YWAP Ota)