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Beneficially influencing the young

Our thoughts continue to be with the youth of this country, following yesterday's ruminations in this column on war and peace, on learning of plans in some quarters to tap the creative energies of the young of Sri Lanka. Titled "Youth Sri Lanka", this program which is primarily aimed at improving the creative abilities of our youth, is being reportedly launched by the Sri Lanka Federation of Youth Clubs in collaboration with the Youth Affairs Ministry and the National Youth Services Council.

That the SLFYC represents nearly 40 per cent of the country's youth is a pointer to the possible reach and scope of the program. Considering the pivotal role the young of today would be playing in the Sri Lanka of tomorrow, we warmly welcome these constructive efforts at giving the lives of our youth, direction and purpose.

"Big Match" revellers who wantonly unleash savage violence on the law-abiding public, under the influence of liquor and possibly hard drugs, are obviously not representative of the totality of the country's young. Nor are the latter symbolized by those unruly mobs of youths who brutally attack their counterparts in what are seen as rival schools.

Nevertheless, these dark events helped highlight the fact that all is far from well as far as the young are concerned. What is clearly evident is that despite being witness to a series of bloody youth upheavals, the adult world has not made any noteworthy progress in positively re-orienting the lives of the young. Many young hearts and minds, apparently, are seething cauldrons of restlessness and anger.

This is not to imply that the young are intrinsically hot-headed, intransigent and unruly. This is a misleading notion that needs to be exploded. The hearts and minds of the young are deeply affected by what they experience around them - specifically, adult society. If the latter is degenerate the former couldn't be expected to be epitomes of virtue. A principal point we made in this commentary yesterday was that the North-East war is considerably responsible for the cult of violence practised by some sections of our youth. The North-East war is a creation of the adult world. These facts are undeniable.

It is for these reasons that we welcome moves by responsible sections, including State bodies, to launch youth development programs. The young are reservoirs of dynamic energy. If these energies are not tapped in a constructive fashion by the social environment, they could be used in destructive ways. This is one of the reasons for the dramatic collapse of discipline among some sections of the young.

A program to tap the creative energies of young persons, therefore, is a step in the right direction. The nurturing of artistic talents, for instance, could help sublimate the instinctual urges of the individual. May such programs thrive on our soil.

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