Hope for the future

LA ESPERANZA SER POSIBLE!!!

Wondering what the above phrase means, well it is just a Spanish phrase used to show that there is still hope, despite various unfavorable circumstances; possible an English translation to light at the end of the tunnel. Well this article simply points out that there is still hope of a bright future for the youths of this generation. May be you are among the various youths out there who are really worried about the future ahead due to the many challenges that we are being faced with in this generation, then hey!, this article is intended for you. But the fact is that every young person out there who has a good vision and a plan for his life should be concerned with the way things are going around us. In fact, we should start examining if dreams still come true at a time like this. The world finds itself presently in a situation where barely everything is done through the wrong means, things that used to be seen as ‘vulgar’ are now been displayed and accepted openly, and our leaders are very much leading the way at setting bad examples to the generations that follow. Good virtues of the past are no longer celebrated and in fact, it’s so strange that the bad deeds are even getting some good reward. Can we say the world is going mad? No! We should rather ask if the world is.!!!
The youths of this generation are living in a world where money is power, money speaks, and in fact money does is all. Even Aphra Behn said it that money speaks sense in a language that all nations understand. Youths out there are under the pressure of also wanting to get money by all means they can, be it through the front or backdoor. If we examine into the choice of courses student go for when applying to colleges, it’s no longer a matter of where their heart lies but where the money is. In fact, in a country like Nigeria, it’s a course like Medicine or Law that used to be seen as the quick money maker but nowadays, the attention has shifted towards petroleum and gasworks, we need no explanation for that scenario for it is so glaring that everyone is looking for the job that pays off monetarily quick. Our parents are not even helping matters as they used to do; in fact they are adding more fuel to the present fire. If we examine five fathers out there, the one with the successful child is likely to have more respect than others. Their children are even sometimes, their theme of comparison at pubs or even bars. The good child is the pride of his parents, they used to say back then but now, with close observation of things , the successful child is the pride of his parents, in fact, we might not be to wrong if we proclaim that the child with a lot of money is the pride of his parents. With every child wanting to please his or her own parents, he goes every mile so as to be successful in life and be deemed ‘a good child’ by his parents.
Well, not the parents alone, the press and media houses are also not easing the issue for the youths. What we now celebrate on televisions are celebrity figures who have really got the money without really examining how he or she got that hell of money. You sometimes wonder if it’s the two albums that a hip-hop musician has dropped, that makes him billion-dollar rich. Celebrity cribs display a very high level of luxury that even the pope might want to consider twice and rappers brag openly about how many girls they’ve got and how they get money through the wrong means; funny isn’t it? High profile parties where money has been excessively sunk are displayed on our screens and someone out there is also wishing to have the same. Our politicians are not left behind in the issues around as they also present themselves as celebrity figures, travelling and touring around instead of thinking of progress for the nation. No wonder the next person running for the next important political post has also drawn his own plan of selfish exploits when he assumes office.
Another situation which has become increasingly alarming is the continuous decline in the standard of education in various economies worldwide. The students, who happen to be the victims, do not make the matter better as the interest in academics and education worldwide is also on the decline. Youths out there are increasingly becoming more interested in shady means of getting money and those who are still devoted to their academics are in it with the hope that it says off with a fat salary when they start work. Many youths find themselves under pressure to cheat during the examinations so as just to meet the required cut off or accepted grades in industries. In fact, the primary aim of schooling has really been disrupted as instead of being a place to get some good level of training before one goes out there to develop whatever he or she has learnt, it’s only seed as a yardstick or a kind of standard before one can be seen as a person to reckon with in the society. Back in the years, people who didn’t have a chance to get a high level of education still had the time to invent useful things and eventually became people to be reckoned with in the society. I’m not willing to mention names but just have to take the case of Bill Gates, the founder of the Microsoft Corporations who was a college dropout but eventually invented one of the primary instruments of computer development today. The fact is that not all of us have a high mental capability to become successful by virtue of the educational status or even background but every one of us has his own unique talent with which he can make a good and responsible living. Some have the gifts of singing, others various sports and so on with which we can make a good name.
Now, this article does not aim to divert our interest as youths from getting money, but just encouraging us to get it through the right means. Many a youth out there is involved in internet frauds and scams so as to dupe people of some huge amount of money and this issue is so contagious that you only need to be a friend of a scammer before you also become one. Lack of discipline and good moral background is also a major factor is the increase in the rot around us. In fact, the decadence is so alarming that very young girls now go to the extent of sleeping with men old enough to father them so as just to get money. It’s so disheartening that many of these issues above are not seen in the society as bad but rather something we have to accept because there is believed to be no way out.
This article is therefore put up to encourage those youths who are striving to get things done the right way. Do not be weary; the reward of good will come at its right time. To those of us still struggling to make a breakthrough due to the fact that that our parents are not rich, it’s just a matter of time before the tables will turn to favor us. For those of us still in school in one field of study or the other, let us learn as much as we can and make what we have learnt the basis of our own research and probably our own invention in the nearest future. *Please, we have had enough of trying to specialize in the works of some heroes of the past. There are still a lot of issues waiting to be discovered or invented.
Learning has to be a continuous process no matter where we find ourselves. Remember the brighter you are, the more you have to learn and if you feel you are not bright enough, openness to learning can be a key factor in turning a dull person to a brilliant one. Also remember that he who adds not to his learning diminishes it, and learning should not be something to be proud of, but simply a way of life. Jeremy Taylor once said that to be proud of learning is the greatest ignorance which is the fact.
When we find ourselves in opportunities where we have to lead a group of people or where a huge sum of money is kept in our care, let’s handle things with the fear of God and respect for humanity. If those ahead of us have set a bad example for us to follow, let’s not follow, instead let us do things the right way and set the right path for the generations coming after us to follow. Thomas Jefferson said and I quote, ‘I have ever deemed it more honorable and more profitable too, to set a good example that to follow a bad one’. Let money not be our leader but let’s lead wisely the money we possess. Benjamin Franklin made a statement that he that is of the opinion that money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money. Hey friend, put not your trust in money but it’s good to put your money in trust. Even the Holy Bible says it clearly that the love of money is the root of all evil.
Having said all this, I might not be the great inspirational writer out there but I believe that I’ve been able to come out in clear terms some guides by which we can lead a good life irrespective of the decay in our society. Remember the greatest gift we can bestow on others is to set a good example for them to follow, and also that the rotten apple spoils his companion so let’s not be a black sheep wherever we find ourselves. The repair of the world begins at an individual level and if each of us can take the decision to do things only the right way, then the dream of a ‘whole new world’ stops from being a mirage but becomes gradually a reality. The responsibility is on each and every one of us and begins individually from each ones closet. Remember there are no problems that we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.
OLABISI SIJIBOMI A