Youth should never settle for temporary comfort
South Sudan youth raising the flag during the independence celebration in 2011(Photo credit: supplied)
August 11, 2020(SSNN) — When they say “youth are naive”, they mean it. In fact youth are the foolish majority. This is a fact that you will run into in any part of the world.
A few years ago, I was crossing a busy street (Westbrooks Mall) on campus. I was being driven by a senior friend whose daughter was studying her PhD on the same campus. Suddenly we stopped to allow students to cross. She pointed at them and said “I call these type of people intelligent fools, look at how they are glued to their phones. Even when they are not looking at their phones, they don’t check their left and right before crossing, you people are losing your common senses, what if a reckless driver loses control on them”. I found it funny at the time but it eventually sank in. Youth focus more on here and now, they don’t see the bigger picture!
In 2016 when Mabior Garang De Mabior was appointed as a minister in Juba, he rolled up his sleeves right away and got dirty. Within two months he reorganized his ministry, met and signed big projects with investors, and everyone was clubbing for him. He was doing a good job with the little resources he had and he felt like a hero but then the old men who looked lazy and clueless were planning something else. On July 8th we all witnessed what happened. Mabior ran for his life and never returned. When he was appointed for the second time recently, he became the critic we were in 2015/6 and began to ask questions. He eventually turned down the offer but more youths jumped on the bandwagon and they are now feeling like heroes. Denay is wadding floods in Bor and uncle Makuei Lueth and others are busy clapping for him in Juba but in real sense they don’t mean it. The old folks are dinning in J-One and making sure nothing goes anywhere but the youth are busy either clapping for one of their native comrades in the so called RTGoNU or they are busy killing one another.
While Kiir is using Olony as his scapegoat to sit on the agreement as he dines with Machar, the youth think some progresses are being made. What progresses are being made when the communities are killing one another and the SPLA is taking war to the villages? What progresses are being made when a huge population is being displaced by the floods and the so called “government” can’t even intervene? What progresses are being made when you can barely afford anything to eat? The rate at which the SSP is depreciating shows that very soon, you may need to carry money in wheelbarrows to buy a piece of bread if the inflation is not reversed. Only youth can fix all these!
It is unfortunate that the youth can be pleased with a peanut and called it a progress. Before you settle for anything, the youth should learn to do what is called cost-benefit analysis on every decision they make. Just weigh the good and the bad or cost and benefits, and see which one weighs more than the other. One Denay wadding flood empty handed in suits cannot outweigh over 200 deaths in Tonj and over 300 deaths in Jonglei/GPAA in less than two weeks.
I know the youth are eager for opportunities to build their lives; some of you want to go to school, other want to start families and others want to feed their young families; however, do not be lured to settle for temporary comfort that put more at stake. Open up your eyes and think, there is always an optimal solution out there!
The opinions and press releases expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors, any veracity lies solely on the authors or the institutions represented by the authors. View more opinion articles and press releases on SSNN. To get your article published, visit our contact page here or send your email to info.ssnewsnow@gmail.com
Facebook Comments