THE CICAK.com

Youth apathy bred by adults’ narrow-mindedness

By LIYANA YUSOF

I must apologise in advance. I know I am expected to explain why our lack of concern is cause for grave concern, and how to crack out the smelling salts in time before Malaysia becomes ours to run.

However, although it is easy to list the problems of my peers (plenty of practice from high school essays), I have decided to stand my ground, boldly compromising the chances of Borders blessing my bookshelves – must I choose now to start? – and defend my peers, my friends.

They are strong, talented people who have the potential to make great things happen, despite being misunderstood and being resigned to the stereotype of today’s “apathy-filledâ€? youth. These are people who are learning to prove you wrong.

Yes, you, the grown-ups, or perhaps non-youth for lack of a better term. To say that Malaysian youth is apathetic is to literally say that we are devoid of passion, emotion, or excitement, lacking interest in things that others find moving. I find this incredibly hard to believe.

Which youth lacks these? They practically exist in us by default. I don’t know a single person lacking it. In fact, I even know a few who are passionate about being emotionless! We are an easily excited bunch. So, who decides which “thingsâ€? we lack interest in qualifies us as apathy-afflicted? Are we expected to continuously synchronise our mindsets until they are all on your page before declaring the “combatâ€? over?

I am not denying the existence of apathy or its prevalence among Malaysian youth, but instead of playing the offensive, let us try another approach: understanding its source.

Most of us have become passive consumers – your ideal target market, what with our tendency to constantly replace handphones or clothes, and even feeling inferior when we don’t.

Passive consumers breed passive thinkers. It is far easier to give in and snicker at the common perspective, than rebel against the patronising efforts to repair our priorities. It is easy not to care, because stoicism is expected of us. Affecting positive change has become the underdog.

We foster our apathy by cultivating vices the non-youth have desperately tried to get rid of for years, hoping that increasing awareness will erase our unresponsive behaviour.

But which youth social issue has not already been a problem for decades at least? Film stars were smoking before they turned technicolour, and we all know that drugs had their heyday in the American flower-power ’60s.

It is all too easy to take the youth apathy label, stamp it on issues rampant since before our conception, and hope that by pinning us as delinquents, we will be the ones responsible for phasing out the problem.

Another reason to why our insensitivity exists is that we only work with what is given, with the only avenues provided to us by those who are to see us through to maturity. Reading, anti-drug, and anti-smoking campaigns all provide illusions of action, but they have been consistently ineffective because we see right through them, straight to the lack of sincerity.

I am voraciously addicted to literature, but I don’t owe it to a campaign. I owe it to people who have recommended me books they loved. When youths feel they are being talked down to and that their ideas fall onto deaf ears, they turn away.

I believe there is no clear-cut recipe to cure our indifference except to be realistic. Instead of investing time and effort on compulsory campaigns combating our tedium, everyone should focus on improving themselves.

Role models don’t brainwash their beliefs, they lead by example. I believe Malaysian youths are capable of enthusiastic involvement. If you are truly open to the possibility that we are brighter than you think, then consider that we are capable of making our futures just as bright. Take us seriously. If you can convince us that we are making a difference, even if on a small scale – hey, we’re not greedy – then there will definitely be more where that came from.

Our devotion is not birthed from seminars or camps. When obligated into these, we feel strangled and respond with escapism. The aggression seems to hint at the paranoia that if we aren’t forced into these things, we will lack appreciation for our country.

What a ridiculous notion! Our love for our country is never an issue. We are always ready to love & contribute to the place we were born, but only with solid reason. If it becomes harder for us to complain, if we are given something positive and concrete to hold onto, we will come out of our shells and follow suit.

And why not? Enthusiasm is contagious, and there isn’t enough of it today. Shouldn’t this change? After all, our apathy is no more important than yours.

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LIYANA YUSOF is a first-year biotech student who is blinded by literature, powered by coffee, and easily distracted by photography and/or her imagination. She likes writing, the smell of old books, being submerged in swimming pools, neuroscience, medium-rare steak, touching cat fur, and empty train rides. She is in her last “-teen.”Visit her site.