One night at the youth center, a young person approached me and complained. They were serving as first aid responders at mass when a elder came up to them and told them, “I suggest you should serve at all masses and not just the 6 PM mass instead of just wasting your time playing and galavanting.”
I commiserated with his pain knowing that he and his group were dedicated first aiders. These are the serious-with-life, achieving and responsible group. With all the school works that they are juggling with, they still had the time to serve the Church. It was an unfair comment.
Sometimes church people can speak the most hurtful words. But here I also see the dynamics of generations. Biases against young people are deeply ingrained in culture. It may seep from our family experience and become a hasty generalization for all youth. At times we repeat the perennial image of hedonistic youth wasting time in excess and meaninglessness.
Most young people are trying their best just as adults are trying their best at life. They try their best to understand who they are, where they are, and what they are after. They are trying their best to overcome their weaknesses, of getting out the pit that they dug in, and of dealing with the frustration of being so helpless.
Each generation that has lived out its youth will have to look back, reach out and pull forward those who are walking behind them. Our young people need their elders to navigate the mess of life and tell them everything will be okay.
The fact that I still see young people in Church means that God continues to be present to them and calling them and that youth are still responding to that call. Generational frictions will always be there and each generation will have to discover and enter into their roles for one another.
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