CHANGE: That Leads to Godlessness in Youth…

At the time of Jesus, the people sought for signs from God to understand the second coming of the savior. Paradoxically today’s generation seems to be looking for miracles to believe in God. This tendency postulates the absence of faith and presence of godlessness attitude. I wish I am wrong in making this premise. 

Of late I was shocked when a couple of graduate students told me that they do not believe in God. I was shocked not because they do not believe in God but what would be their reason to say this, despite years of formation and seminary life. I really wonder whether they understood what they said.

Perhaps the change of times and the change of cultures and change of belief systems could have influenced them. Let us not forget the fact that there is nothing certain except the change itself. Yes change is the only certainty. So it is the change that influences the mind of the young today. The speed of change is tremendous. Just to put you in context……Years ago the choices that my grandfather had to survive were simple things like Land, Water, Cattle and Cart, Car, T.V and Radio. But today the choices that I have…oh vow…I face a problem of choice because plenty of things at my disposal. To drink, to eat, to wear, to travel, to relate and to live…the choices are….Coco Cola, KFC, Pizza Hut, McDonald, Samsung, Apple, Puma, RayBan, Reebok, fastrack, docomo, airtel, Ford, Marcedez and the hub of everything facebook, twitter, watsup and Google. Today with all the facilities, still the young face tragedy in life unlike our forefathers with minimum things. Believe me the young today is experiencing an Identity Crisis due to mishandling and manipulating the things that are at hand; which unveil a way to Godlessness, isolation and existential despair.

Once I was having a chat with one of my friends about what actually were the reasons why the young people go away from God and thus lead a Godless life that would certainly influence the others like any contagious sickness. Some of the points of our discussion about the things that lead to Godlessness today are…

Sense of Impatience: The young today have developed a tendency to seek immediate results for the efforts that they make; be it studies, work or prayer. Since they are in haste they forget the fact that these things take years to bear fruit. Today we are living in the age of touch, click, instant, fastrack, instant results, instant coffee and instant. In this age of comodification, the qualities like patience, calm and compose have become unwanted commodities. As a result we lose patience and develop aggression, irritation and temper. And we know with this character we get absolute disorientation having no standards in life. To give you an example, we know formation is not a period of time or a stage of life. But it is an ongoing process where one comes out of darkness and steps into light and grace.   

Sense of Disorientation: A life without goal and focus will be like a ship without rudder. The journey of such life becomes insipid and meaningless. There is nothing to work for and nothing to strive for in life. What the young need at this level is to discover something that they love passionately and get oriented in life’s journey. Then it becomes a dream to chase and make a reality.

Lack of Sense of Humor: It is said that “A fool laughs at others’ mistakes, and the wise laughs at one’s mistakes.” Yes, we lost the true sense of humor. It is nothing but being optimistic about oneself. Such an attitude makes one to find something good in him/her and find oneself worth appreciating even in the worst circumstances. In this regard our parents can be the best examples that we could find ever. Jesus Christ himself set a beautiful example before us where we can see his death on the cross leading us to the joy of resurrection; where a symbol of suffering becomes a signpost of resurrection.

Lack Sense of Family: If father is the head of the family; then mother is the heart of the family. In family we learn the virtue of charity. The youth today have a feeling that in family all are outdated and irrelevant. So they give least importance to the parents. They forget the fact that parents know everything about them despite what they are and what they are not. We know all great people who left the legacy in the page of history are from a good family who were obedient to the parents and to the family.

Sense of Independence: Yes, today’s young people are not in a stage to listen to other. Because they have mass media in hand that shows them all that they want and all that they need instantly. Therefore, strong sense of independence creeps into their head; which is a great paralysis of this generation. Thus they become no more the citizens of the society but the natives of the Mass Media, as an analysis described. With this attitude they conceive everyone as weak and incomplete. But they develop many fake friends in the social networks forget to make good friends who are near. Today the young have fake friendships and less good friendships. This is a tragedy in the lives of the young. Because, today they are the friends who take advantage of friendship and forget them in trouble. And finally end up seeking some psychological and spiritual counselling.