Thursday, 21 January 2016

Precious Life

Life is precious. It is the most precious gift we have received from our creator. You have just one life, make the best of it, expressions of this kind are often used to make one understand the significance and preciousness of life. Therefore, each and every person tries to live his life to the full here on earth. He searches for means that could help him in his adventure. But in this bargain, he makes many compromises, mistakes and he gets caught up in the web of life. He becomes slave of his own makings. He finds himself in the clutches of bondage. Hence, he asks, what is to be free? What is freedom? Therefore, this paper has led me to deal with true meaning of freedom.

Physical Development

             During adolescence physical changes take place in the human body. This process is caused by puberty. For females puberty normally begins with the menstruation and for males with the development of pubic hair.  Hormones released by the pituitary gland stimulate puberty this process is called releasing sex hormones. Young person’s sex drive is kicked off by the growth.

            Young people use public spaces just as much as anyone else, if not more. And yet, too often young people, or young adults between the ages of 12 to 25, are not included in the process of Place making and end up “loitering” in other spaces. Some communities glare upon loitering, which can create a negative image for young people and just contributes to the stigma surrounding them, especially those who are at risk. By being actively engaged in the creation of youth-friendly spaces, young people can feel like they have investment in their community and they can develop a strong sense of ownership in these places.

Adolescent Development

         We have all been through different experiences, events and influences collected through life; these make us the people we are. Experiences gain during adolescence is very major. No two young people are the same. Everyone is unique, created and valued by God. The purpose here in not to generalize the normal adolescent experience, but to help us understand the effects and implications of this development on each individual.

Need for Understanding

          To work for youth and to relate with them we must understand them in all areas, especially physically, psychologically, intellectually and spiritually. Understanding youth is very difficult. We have to evaluate them from their point of view and their perception. 

Call Today

            Young people are struggling in record numbers to find work, leave home, and start a family. Therefore Youth today has to  give heed to their problems and struggles. They have to reach out their cry to this world filed with corruption and reach people. It is the call for today’s youth to voice out and grab their goals.   

Adult Influence

            We have people who influence us in various ways. Some influence through their words some with their actions and some with their behavior. We have seen and heard about many well-known people in the world; they too were influenced by someone; which inspired them to reach their goal. Influence of others creates in us the energy to work hard to achieve our aim in life. Well known people like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama etc. are the leading people who have given boost to the young to achieve their aims in life. Adults play an important role in the life of a young person. They use their knowledge and skills to help guide a young person in a positive direction. Adults are concerned about the development of young people.

Aggressive Behavior among Peers

            Individual factors such as problem solving skills, self-regulation skills, and language are associated with youth who engage in aggressive behaviors. Some children and youth lack the social skills necessary to avoid engaging in aggressive behaviours. They are more likely to exhibit deficits such as poor impulse control, low frustration tolerance, limited ability to generate alternative responses to stress, and limited insight into the feelings of themselves and others. This inability to correctly process social information can cause youth to misinterpret social cues and assume others have a hostile intent during conflicts. Since these youth have fewer skills than others to cope with their frustrations, they lose control more quickly and engage in aggressive behaviours during times of stress. In addition, family factors such as interaction, discipline, and communication patterns are associated with youth who engage in aggressive behaviours. School factors, such as support and approach to discipline, also play a role. Furthermore, youth may face serious stressors and lack adult support or role models for dealing with difficulties.

Conflict Among Peers

          ‘However, sometimes peer conflict does lead to violence.’ Peer conflict refers to mutual disagreement or hostility between peers or peer groups. It is characterized as conflict between people of equal or similar power; it occurs occasionally; it is unplanned; and it does not involve violence or result in serious harm. Perpetrators of peer conflict do not seek power or attention. However, peer conflict can lead to violence. Those involved in violence and aggression usually have comparable emotional reactions, demonstrate some remorse, and actively try to resolve the problem.

Personal Sense of Identity

            There are many things in one’s life that one can have control. Similarly there are some circumstances that are outside one’s control such as the fact of death, the color of their eyes and the experiences that one goes through when in contact with one’s immediate surroundings. But as individuals the young do have a certain amount of control over the occurrence of their present and future actions, especially when they are in charge. The identity, or the self, is largely discovered only through the process of an “acting out”, that the possibility for expression is thus in a very stringent sense the necessary precondition for the very having of a self, which is packed with social, political and also educational implications. Just by checking the pulse of a person, we know that they are alive so also we can come to know whether a society is alive with its young, who are its energy and backbone. They have the zeal and the courage to stand up to situations and to cry out against the injustices that is done to them and the biases that they notice around them, which others rarely notice or have even taken for granted. The young are the voice which will scream out and act out against such things.

Identity of Young

          The minds of the youth are highly impressionable especially from the people they observe in the society and from whom they get the inspiration to mould their own lives which decides their own destiny for good or for bad. Personal identity comes with personal choices that the young make. It must flow deep within the structure of every individual person that there are some things that are out of our own control, especially the things that shape us from the past.

Group Consciousness

            Noticing young people today is very much easy than what it was in the past. Today the young are naturally identified by their need to belong to a specific group. They need others not only to “practice virtue” as their ticket to the next life, but they need others, so that, as individuals, they can grow and become genuine people- able to live together with others. Everyone needs security, recognition, a sense of belonging to make it at all, but these things do not just sprinkle down from “up there” somewhere. Islands are not bridged like that- it takes people.

         There is a greater awareness among the young that they are part of a larger context. That not only a particular notion of reality brings meaning henceforth but the ultimate reality or culture of a person is meaningful. Therefore, there is even more awareness of the need to belong to a group and to a culture. Yet today’s youth are not uniform or stereotyped as in the past: but one notices that within the youth culture there is a certain amount of diversity and polarization. The kinds of associations, bonds, and relationships that exist are not always deep. When an individual’s freedom is curtailed then the person is no freer to make any personal choices and totally depends of those who call the cards for their life.

Sense of Fear

             Human beings have got many emotions from their birth to the end of their life like joy, happiness, sorrow, sadness, fear and many more. Among this the emotion of fear is main and a troubling one which people usually suffer with. People usually have many fears from the time they are born in this world. This sense of fear eats human person internally as well as externally. Today’s youngsters also have got many fears from their birth till their death.

            We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequent bars and have no self-control. ‘Plato said, way back in the 4 C. B.C. that he found young people difficult to understand.’ They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets, inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying.

Thoughts of Young Person

           Inside the teen body, the brain controls some of the most important functions of everyday living from waking up to walking around to using senses. The brain also controls the functions that comprise the mind; thought, memory, emotion, inspiration, imagination, and others. The mind is a term that describes all of the thoughts and feelings that go through one person all the time. As a teen, the mind is extremely important. It contributes to one’s development and defines the way one experiences one’s teenage years. Understanding the teenage mind can be a very hard task, both for parents and teens. Nonetheless, there are many things about the teen mind that should be broadly understood by parents and teens. The mind encompasses some of the most sensitive matters of teenage life namely emotions, relationships and love.

Bullying

           Bullying is one of the problems in school and college students. Bullying among school-aged youth is increasingly being recognized as an important problem affecting well-being and social functioning of the youth in today’s time. While a certain amount of conflict and harassment is typical of youth peer relations, bullying presents a potentially more serious threat to healthy youth development. Youth who bully others tend to demonstrate higher levels of conduct problems and dislike of school, whereas youth who are bullied generally show higher levels of insecurity, anxiety, depression, loneliness, unhappiness, physical and mental symptoms, and low self-esteem. Therefore bullying has become very typical and dangerous problem and it is a common phenomenon in foreign countries.

Who are Young?

          Around the world, the English terms youth, adolescent, kid, and young person are interchanged, often meaning the same thing, but they are occasionally differentiated. Youth can be referred to as the time of life when one is young. This involves childhood, and the time of life which is neither childhood nor adulthood, but rather somewhere in between. Youth also identifies a particular mindset of attitude, as in "He is very youthful"

The Youth

           Youth is the period of time of indecision, where they can’t decide by themselves for themselves. They despair at times in their daily life. It is the period of time where they are doubtful in every situation. On the individual level, youth is a time when social roots are uncertain

Wednesday, 20 January 2016

Quotes of Pope Francis

       “Families are not a problem, they are first and foremost an opportunity. An opportunity which we have to care for, protect and support. That is a way of saying that they are a blessing.” “What can we do to keep our heart from going numb?Go forth and Proclaim the Joy of the Gospel.”

Quotes of Pope francis

         “Jesus’ love goes before us, his look anticipates our needs. He can see beyond appearances, beyond sin, beyond failures and unworthiness. He sees beyond our rank in society. He sees beyond this, to our dignity as sons and daughters, a dignity at times sullied by sin, but one which endures in the depth of our soul. He came precisely to seek out all those who feel unworthy of God, unworthy of others.”

Reflection: Mk 3:1-6

                Jesus in the gospel today was “grieved to find them (the Pharisees) so obstinate” because they were so legalistic in their interpretation of the Law, they could not discern the will of God on the Sabbath day.  Jesus was grieved that their hearts had become coarse.  This for the Lord is the worst spiritual condition to befall a person; it is even more serious than the most serious breach of the Law – a hardened heart.  When Saul recognizes that David is the chosen one of God, he hardens his heart towards David and plans to kill him.  We must always guard our hearts from growing cold towards the Lord.  The only way to do so would be to daily entrust ourselves to the Lord’s care and protection and never think that the outcome of the battle depends on us.

Reflection: 1 SAMUEL 17:32-33, 37, 40-51

                Indeed, the Lord is the Lord of every battle in our lives!  Yet do we live under such an assurance?  Do we go into battle knowing that the Lord goes ahead of us to do battle on our behalf?  Or do we feel that we are on our own and have to depend on our own resources?  This was the situation for Israel in the first reading today.  Israel is being threatened by their mortal enemy the Philistines in the person of Goliath, a soldier of huge stature!  King Saul has lost his nerve and the Lord’s anointing for a while now and it is the young David who gives Israel hope in God again as he steps forward boldly with only a shepherd’s staff and a sling in his hand.  David runs to meet Goliath like a man running to meet his destiny, for David is fully confident in the Lord.

Reason for choosing topic for dissertation

           Being around with the youth and myself being young created within me an urge to feel for others like me who go through the same struggles. In addition, in order to feel for the other person, one needs to know the other. This is probably why I chose this topic and something that keeps me going to reach out to youth who need the helping hand to understand their perspective.