Being Young

FROM ISSUE # 159 (March 2009) | IN THIS ISSUE
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People are young as long as they hold on to their ideals. It's neither the candles on the cake nor the wrinkles on the skin that defines age. And, as they say, you are as young as you feel.

Yes, the years might turn some of your hair grey but it's the grey matter inside that really matters. The skin may wrinkle, but it is losing one's passion that wrinkles the soul.

You are as young as hope and as old as despair, as young as self-confidence as old as fear. We are as young as our faith and as old as our doubts. Being young or old is a state of mind rather than the date on the birth certificate. It is about pushing aside the chill of pessimism and cynicism and learning to walk again after a fall. So, would it be okay to say that we, the youth of Nepal, have become older than our time? That we look and behave older than we are?

We are indifferent to what happens around us. We are apathetic about the very community we live in. We have a self-imposed sense of hierarchy that forces us to either ignore everything or pity ourselves. We, like our elders, are good at pointing fingers and transferring the blame on someone else. But for how long? How long are we going to just sit around and twiddle our thumbs? How long will it take for us to wake up and do something to change our tomorrow?

Yes, the state still needs to decide the age group that will define the youth population of our country. But is that important? What is the difference between 40-year-old 'youth' and 19-year-old youth if both are just going to wait for their rights to be handed to them on a silver platter?

If we are the future, we better start planning for it. Start creating our own future. If we want to change society we have to change ourselves first. If we say that the country has potential then we need to start believing in our own potential first. Tomorrow, we will be older, and it may be too late. Let's not become old twice in our lifetimes.

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