There is an interesting trend which is quite new respective to the tendencies of the 20th centurie: The young people of today (15-30) are not the rebels the previous generations have been. The modern youth’s image, ideas and handling are quite different from what is normally expected from the youth, at least in the West.
When I observe young people around I am often surprised why don’t they rebel against the system, why are they such conformists compared to even my generation (30+)? Recently I have read some studies showing that young people are mostly interested (surprise, surprise!) in good jobs and family life.
The studies have been done in Austria but I am quite sure it is similar in many other countries. The studies say that even if they rebel then not aganst something general but for quite concrete things, more “practical”. They don’t go for demonstrations but meet for one minute flash-mobs.
And I ask myself: Is the time of rebellion over? Probably the old system is already deadly damaged. And probably we, the rebels of the past are not able to see it yet.
And the new souls that will be building the tomorrow world are already there doing their job quietly?
LOVE; axinia
axinia
1000 petals by axinia 
they are more practical, more selfish, more emotionally blunted ,competitive and less imaginary,less dependent,doughtfull. They already realise horror of future so they are behaving like that. It is a story of evolution and fittest to survival nothing else. If they want survive they have to be like that……. what we have learn and practice was also somewhat different isn’t it? I am not only talking about generation gap ,it is more that that. Just think about soft and hard skills,they will be always better than us. but most probably they learn from self experience and not from others…. so their overall development is depend on what they experienced from childhood… and in society like us they are not depend on old and others experiences and that’s why they dont like advice….. they want tobe self exploration of everything with own values and judgment. that’s what present youth is what I feel, thanks….
frostwire, utorrent
….in short they are more pragmatic and believe in utility value of everything their is less value to emotions and attachments
thnks
They will rebel slightly later on – 30 to 45 years when they find that life was not a bed of roses (anymore)…
Destination Infinity
Axinia, That’s a nice observation.
…May be the rebellion among the youth of yesteryears was a carried over aftermath of the War, where the world was more in a kind of a psychological split than the rather homogenised/globalised one of today (thanks to technological advancements bringing revolution in travel and communication).
In India, the adult studentship can be divided in three categories, (i) the top notch – IIMs, IITs, IIFTs and the like (ii) the usual seekers of degrees in regular universities, and (iii) the private education mainly covering management, Engineering, medical and IT.
The last category above is what I cater to. Compared to us as students, my students are the cool type – comparatively well behaved, focused and open minded. For example, their cells would be in the vibrator mode while travelling in the metro and they can speak into it without disturbing the fellow commuter. They dance more and mingle with opposite sex fairly well and I personally find it very healthy that the lovebirds decently share the same desk in the classroom, even though ‘ditching’ is a common problem where they often involve even the faculty in resolving their menace ‘en masse’.
Yet, our ‘romance age’ of the seventies in India was a golden one – it would take umpteen weeks of wooing just to have a cup of coffee with ‘her’. Touching ‘etc.’ wasn’t neither aimed at nor considered normal. The target was to make them smile or blush with your ‘ways’ and I remember us practising this art near the Ladies Only seats in the bus to and fro the college. The much promoted Dirty Talk of today was out of question and touching a girl even by mistake would invite collective shoe-beating (the non-Sahaj kind). Homosexuality and tattooism was abhorred and fashion only in the psychologically abnormal and the uneducated low caste respectively. There were one or two b&w TV channels so, outdoor activities got us more life training than the contemporary. The western ‘My mom told me not to talk to strangers’ psyche hadn’t seeped into the Indian psyche and my kind of venturing out alone to the far away regions since the age of 13 with no parental hitch wasn’t uncommon like today.
“Building tomorrow’s world” is an ongoing process but frankly, I don’t see the youth spearheading this movement. The youth of today have certainly bettered on abilities and civility but they need to work upon spiritual depth and inner strength. The vane spirituality today is more common than common sense, where the ignorance and innocence of seekers make them fall for shortcuts, concessions and bypasses in spirituality. Their vein remains, in a nutshell, sensationalism –
by and large.
at Destination Infinity: do you really believe they will rebel? As far as I know rebellion is somthing one either has or not…it will not come if it is already within. I think they are really differnt. The time is differet too…
People will rebel if they are deprived of something. But these days, parents are spoiling the kids by giving everything and spoon feeding them thereby softening them. But after a point of time, when they no longer have all that protection, they will have to rebel to find their own place in the world. And they will, I think its a matter of time and everyone has it within us to rebel.
Destination Infinity
realy to Nishant AGRAWAL:
thanks Nishat, your insight is very very interesting!
I find it hard to generalize like this, but I wouldn’t label the youth of today as spiritually vain. What I have found in my own community is that it is the younger people who are willing to put their lives aside and selflessly devote themselves to raising human consciousness while the older ones, like myself at 51, who fit my practices into the life I’ve established around me, opting for sustaining my security. The Isha Institute of Inner Sciences in McMinnville, TN is “staffed” by a dedicated group of volunteers, a large percentage of whom are under 30. In many ways, I do see them as rebels because they have chosen paths that probably are not the ones that their families would have wanted for them – they aren’t chasing the big bucks nor are they planning to set up house with anyone. I want to celebrate the youth who are making a very positive and needed difference, and to offer my gratitude and humble thanks for their example.
Hi Rebecca,
Your banter is well received. 😉
Your generalisation from exceptions and mine from a limited context are only the two ends of the rope in a tug of war where in the end, the two sides are going to pile on each other anyway. 🙂
Enjoy!
-Sorry for late reply, but my new job leaves me no time.
Young rebels…. The young people are or conform to system, cause they think it will take care of them, and they become real slaves of it…or they gave up already, seeing the reality of this hell they must live in, so clearly. And than there are other children, and some of them born with terrible inner strength, and powers, and they are ready to make the change….some of them absolutely without compassion to anyone or anything…… When I meet them, it is an experience, they are extremely well informed about the backround of this “life”, even as 10-13 years old childs, and they cant tolerate it and will not, and have all instruments to make the change, and they will do so, it is built in them – amazing.
The others, the sleepers, once they will wake up, I am sure, and they learn that the revolution is a continuous process, not a single event managed by someone. And they learn another point, the most important – that the only revolution that cant be defeated, is the passive revolution. One can use the water cannons and beating to demonstrating people, like in Stuttgart, Egypt…but if the people will just sit on the ground in their jobs, offices, production plants, electrical facilities, power plants, army…. and say ENOUGH….what will they do to them, how will they bring them to work, to accept this system…? With water cannons?
Axinia, isnt it that the new generation is somehow realizing this point already? The break-through will come, you know when? When they will have nothing to loose, and the time is so near, thanks to our most idiotic, machiavelic polititians we ever had…and their decissions 😉
Thinking about it, as i too fall in the <30 gen, i dont see myself as more of a rebel. Neither do many ppl i interact with in that gen.
The tolerance level seems to be more till some extent. But after it crosses one level, there is no turning back until the issue is resolved.
This is a very important topic which you have touched upon here – youth and system. I am in the age gap (15-30) and I’m surprised to see how so many people/youth have accepted their fate brought upon them by the system. Here in the UK, Universities will be charging almost £9k per year, leaving students heavily in debt once they graduate – this change has almost been accepted by the majority. It surprises me how so many can simply ignore or rather accept this change. We live in an environment or communities which are virtually connected and not physically. The reality of any situation is erased when people fail to demonstrate together – the current trend is to start a facebook or online petition but the world can choose to read about it or not, where as demonstrations and challenging the system means people are forced to take notice.
We are in deep trouble.
Hmm…this: “…leaving students heavily in debt…”
Yes, exactly the point, to leave, keep, force (whatever)….EVERYONE to be in debt. Just to make them to be slaves….thats the plan….eons planed already. Even the unborn children are in debt, that cant be paid – never can be paid back, as money itself are created from debt itself. This is the very base of the system.
But if there is a “system”, who owns it – me, or you? We are not the ones – who is it than? And what is our role in that system of which we are not the owners?
Someone owns it, true, but someone also run it. “They” own the system, but you know who runs it? Me and you…………. If we dont, it will colaps, trust me 😉
We are allpowerfull beings, someone/something just convinced us somehow that we are just this body and mind, useless workers for the system, they forced their ideas and borders to us….and we somehow believed.
“Wake up Neo, they imprisoned your mind” 😉
p.s. who need whom – do we need them? No, we dont. Do they need us – yes, they do, thats why they make the system. Why do they need us? Most logical question is taht we have something they dont. The power to create………. Think about it….
the last point is brilliant, Vinayakah! we do have something…obviously.
We are in deep trouble already for quite some time…in way its getting worse and worse but in the other way it’s getting better! I mean so many wonderful people are out there, and a lot can be changed by non-violence and even non-demonstrating.
“….a lot can be changed by non-violence and even non-demonstrating.”
Exactly the point. Passive revolution, or lets say peacefull revolution is the only way. It cant be defeated…impossible.
We must just understand that we dont win by fighting “against”. We can win only by creating the “new”, despite of anything, leaving the “old” behind, deprived of our support. We need to realize our true nature….of all-powerfull beings.
Or we get the point, and ignite the change, or the children of tomorrow (even today) will ignite the anihilation…..
Can I ask aside from being rebellious, what else were the youth expected to be ?
desinterested in traditional values and maximalitsic.
[…] turn 30. My fellow blogger Axinia at 1000 Petals has already broached this subject with this post: The Modern Youth is Not What it is Expected to be . Take a look and please share what are your […]