Writers Space Africa- Kenya

Our Role as the Youth in Society by Bildad Makori
Nowadays, there is a enormous difference between what is currently and what used to be in previous times. In relation to we the youth, do we know what role we play in society.
Ever been engaged in a talk with an older person? Talks with such older people tend to lead us to stories of how their golden younger days used to be. How they would walk miles bare foot, at times on empty stomachs with the intent of going to school and quench their thirst for education. What about us, the youth: Why do some of us not see the importance of school? Why do some of us become truant and even drop out yet our education is much easier as compared to theirs?
Still walking on the memory lane to the streets that our elderly walked on years ago, do we remember the environment they grew up from? They could narrate to us of how life at the countryside required everyone to be busy to survive and earn an earnest living. They would tell us how they toiled on daily basis in farms digging, planting, and watering plants and after the crops grew, they went to the market to sell and in the end; they made money, which they used on other secondary needs of their livelihoods and their parents’ needs were met.
Looking at our environment, with all the technological advancements and vast infrastructural developments, how did we end up engaging in criminal activities with the intent of earning a living? How do we not find time to hunt for work to do but have time to walk aimlessly around the village every day? How do we not have capital to at least start a small business but instead have cash to buy invaluable things like alcohol and cigars?
More to this, I would also like us to remember how our parents, teachers, guardians, and caregivers would relentlessly give us narratives on incidents where they needed to be obedient to elders despite feeling sidelined and judged unfairly. How they neither could raise their voices nor talk back when addressed regardless of times they were under baleful accusations. In our case, how are things with us? When accused wrongly of doing something, we tend to defend ourselves in the best way we can but at the end, holding on to caution lest they hear the discontentment. Don’t we talk back at times shouting and even confronting our parents, guardians and the elderly in such situations?
We as the youth play a crucial role in society. We are the backbones to younger generations. Without us being industrious, respectful and upholding good morals, we will become the onset of the fall of the younger generation because they look up to us.
Had the elderly been rude, lazy, and not gone to school, would other generations be living in such a comfortable modern environment in comparison to the yester years of our grandfathers and grandmothers?