Last week, a number of activities were held to mark National Youth Day, in which the difficulties and challenges being faced by the young people of today were highlighted over and over again by politicians and organisations involved with young people.

It was a chance once again to bring to the fore, on one hand, the government’s efforts to make life easier for young people and, on the other hand, the young people’s calls for a better future.

The clash between generations is something that was always with us and it will remain so. Young people tend to believe that their ideas are better and that they should be getting more attention from the older generations who, in turn, believe that experience puts them in a better position to understand the exigencies of youths.

As is often the case, finding middle ground would be the best way to deal with such situations, although it must also be said that this is hard to come by. Still, every effort should be made to find this so-called compromise that would allow for better harmony and more understanding.

Youths will never understand how middle-aged and older people think, until they themselves grow to become middle-aged people and old people, so, without being condescending or patronising, older people should not shy away from giving advice, even though this advice will many times not be heeded.

What is sure is that today’s youths are different from the youths of 20, 30 or 50 years ago. Things have changed drastically over the years, and as the world becomes smaller and the technological age takes over, it is perhaps harder today to bring youths and older citizens on the same wavelength.

A 65-year-old might need his 40-year-old son’s computer to print some items, but it is probable that the 12-year-old grandson knows more tricks as to how to make the said items look better on the page. That’s the way it goes.

Whereas, in the past, young people led their lives very close to the family they were brought up in, with the men often ending taking up the same job as their father and the women simply following in their mother’s footsteps, young people today certainly have more freedom, and this freedom enables them to open up new horizons which were unthinkable for the older generations of today.

Travelling has been made much easier and the world of the internet has paved the way for new experiences. The way young people entertain themselves today is also completely different, although not necessarily better, to that of the youths of the past. In a world that becomes more materialistic, today’s youths have much more at their disposal than their predecessors – from a car to a computer, just to mention two “luxuries” which have become “commodities”.

In a way, they are living an easier life than their predecessors did. Yet, on the other hand, it is equally more difficult – in the sense that today competition is harder, life is more stressful and success so much harder to achieve.

It is not a contradiction. Youths have more avenues open to them and they can achieve more. But they can also lose more.

On the more positive side, it is good to point out that many young people today opt to further their studies beyond secondary level – the number of students at University and other institutions like MCAST keeps growing every year. It is extremely important that the young people of today realise that they have a better chance to succeed in life if they prolong their studies as much as they can. It might seem as a sacrifice for them – it is so certainly for their family – but in the end they will reap the fruit of their endeavours.