World Youth Day – was a forgotten event

Almost every day in the year is some kind of anniversary or day that is earmarked for some commemoration. I presume this is so that we will use the occasion to highlight what it is and remind people of why this day has been designated for that purpose. There are also International Days like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and even Valentine’s Day that are universal, mostly for commercial purposes, but also which have some underlying theme to it.

In that context World Youth Day was a week ago, and nothing special was done, other than some events courtesy of the Ministry of Youth Affairs, who I believe has a duty to use it for the benefit of some activity that pertains to young people.

Perhaps in future we must make a greater effort to remember this day and galvanize the community to remember the importance of youth and the speed with which the period of youth passes for everyone before adulthood and family responsibility takes over.

This critical period of a life requires direction, especially in Sri Lanka, and empowerment where they are able to take control of their lives, and set goals that they can achieve and go about accomplishing what it is they have set for themselves. This kind of empowerment is totally lacking in Sri Lanka and the country stands out by the lack of maturity of young people, especially males in how to conduct, behave, show respect, learn self discipline, time management and above all a focus on their life goals, the achievement of which is a lifetime of effort coupled with reward.

I advocate a gathering of all the 350 organizations that represent youth interests and give each of them a project to plan for the next year’s World Youth Day. It needs a whole years planning and preparation for the execution, which can even be some permanent construction, but nevertheless an opportunity for those who purport to help youth, to actually think about a positive youth friendly and youth empowering project. It will also bring together these organizations, many which are duplicating efforts to work smart at achieving the goals, by reducing duplication and helping each other in areas that expertise already exists, without some groups having to re invent the wheel, when a resource already exists and is well established.