How come that when one peruses the literature, music and arts of the young it is always about angst, and rebellion, and being misunderstood? It finds its most articulate sounds and bytes in rock music-someone has defined it as a the sum total of the angst of decades.
If one will also look at literary pieces written by the young, it is always about generational misunderstandings, about miscommunications (or the lack thereof), about always being set aside and not being valued. Phinehas Nigellus, a former Headmaster of Hogwarts, once had a conversation with Harry Potter. He said that "young people are always misunderstood".
To be fair, I guess there is a truth to that. When I was younger I alwways thought badly of the older generation, that they are replete with outdated values and are always backward looking. They always say "During our time we did it this way" or "We value things so much not like you guys do now". It seems that adults are more often willing to preach than to listen, to pontificate and deliver out the quick solutions to perceived problems this or that way. It made me feel that saying what I felt or speaking out loud my thoughts was a waste of time. It felt like they always wanted to dismiss my concerns and get on with a quick fix.
Now I see things differeltly. Not because that I am an adult myself but because I have grown (at least I hope) to see things in a different light and through different perspectives.
Young people are fond of rantings because its the best way to speak out their minds. These rantings may take various forms: rebellion, plain disregard of rules, sulkiness, taking on outfits, accessories and fashion that deliberately shock their forbears, blatant communication shut downs, etc. They wanted to be listened to, they wish to be affirmed on who they are and what they are now, to be guided without being pushed inito the mold of adult expectations too much.
While it is necessary to find one's identity and be accepted for what you like and what you want, it seems immature to reject the insights of adults altogether. While the sins perhaps of the baby boomers to the gen exers and millenials may consist of occasional ignoring of the latter and a preachy condescending attitude in some instances, we all need to learn that this all stems from being unable to find ways and mediums to break down communication barriers and intergenerational differences. We need to listen to each other. We need to refresh our understanding of our roles as sons, daughters, mothers and fathers.
The young are supposed to respect and listen, the old supposed to guide and be examples. The older ones perhaps were brought up the same way, and know no instructional manual on how to raise their kids, or how to deal with issues past generations just ignored or kept in check by appearing tough or strong.
We are all broken at certain points and at ceratin parts. We can't completely relegate to genes, bad environment or even to other circumstances the helplessness we feel. Fortunately, the grace of God is greater than all human wekaness and folly. Christ's coming into the world can address all the angst and longings of the heart-whether young or old. He is the answer to the questions of life, or as some Jews put it the answer to a question they never asked.
Perhaps we also never asked any of the questions, but He is there nevertheless...to put meaning and direction. He is God Incarnate after all. We celebrate human brokenness along with God's redemption because we know He is there for us and He took the steps to become one of us- to share our human nature, to understand the battles each of us undertake, whether to cheat or not in tests, to curse people or not, to deny ourselves or immerse in selfish pamperings when we know others are in pain and we choose to plainly ignore them.
He is always there, understanding our battles everyday, always encouraging us to still do the right thing, to die to our selves and to have the fortitude despite the unfaithfulness of our co-fallen peers. Our brokenness is a gift yet at the same time a chance to rely on His grace to sustain hope in this life despite our tribulations whatever they maybe.
I once had a student who always chided me for appearing sad. Whenever he chides me, I simply smile and ask myself why he cares so much about other people's facial appearances. It also made me reflect that despite all my personal troubles (who doesn't have one anyway) I have hope to cheer up.
Human frailty and all its vicissitudes didn't originate in Pandora's box. It came from a chosen (conscious or unconscious) attempt to live life apart from God's direction. We long for freedom, a setting free from rules only to find that we long for that "enslavement". Loneliness is perhaps a price of a self chosen banishment from what God wants for our lives. We complain from so many troubles only to find that that trouble was our own making.
Rock music deftly puts the current scenario of most teens; it helps them affirm what they feel inside, the hollowness and all. But I hope they move to the answers staring them in the face. I hope they travel not the path of Kurt Cobain or Marilyn Monroe.
Life is beautiful, with all its scars and jars. So let us live it to the fullest.
Monday, December 20, 2004
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Happy Christmas
The Holiday Season is here. Its drinks, food, reunions, gifts, vacations and stuff for lots of people!
For me its a time off and a time to do the things I like: watching TV, playing RO, reading books I like (and there are lots of them), meeting up with old friends and just staying home.
Its my thirtieth Christmas in this planet and it seems that how I perceive it has changed a lot. When I was a kid it was just simple fun, toys and candies. Now its different-an indicator of how much time has passed and how many seasons of cold nights have gone by.
It is still for me a religious event, a day I really think a lot about my faith and how I am living up to it. The Nazarene was here two thousand years ago, and I must admit He has had an impact on many. Its His birth that changed the way we count the years, a religion was established in His name.
My faith and its relation to the Son of God is of utmost matter to me. I may have beliefs that are like unorthodox at times but I am pretty much a Christian. My life, my example I admit can't be a great message of my faith. Mahatma Gandhi could plainly say that. I couldn't.
It's because of the fact that despite the injunctions and the rich provision of grace from above that I fail to live consistently with my Reformed faith. I swear sometimes, if not verbal, at least mental. I battle with lust everyday like any other man. At times I think of how much my life has been an example to others, of how I have been a cause of stumbling or encouragement.
Its hard but with His grace I hope that this Season I may dwell more on His rich love and mercy to live up to the best I could.
For me its a time off and a time to do the things I like: watching TV, playing RO, reading books I like (and there are lots of them), meeting up with old friends and just staying home.
Its my thirtieth Christmas in this planet and it seems that how I perceive it has changed a lot. When I was a kid it was just simple fun, toys and candies. Now its different-an indicator of how much time has passed and how many seasons of cold nights have gone by.
It is still for me a religious event, a day I really think a lot about my faith and how I am living up to it. The Nazarene was here two thousand years ago, and I must admit He has had an impact on many. Its His birth that changed the way we count the years, a religion was established in His name.
My faith and its relation to the Son of God is of utmost matter to me. I may have beliefs that are like unorthodox at times but I am pretty much a Christian. My life, my example I admit can't be a great message of my faith. Mahatma Gandhi could plainly say that. I couldn't.
It's because of the fact that despite the injunctions and the rich provision of grace from above that I fail to live consistently with my Reformed faith. I swear sometimes, if not verbal, at least mental. I battle with lust everyday like any other man. At times I think of how much my life has been an example to others, of how I have been a cause of stumbling or encouragement.
Its hard but with His grace I hope that this Season I may dwell more on His rich love and mercy to live up to the best I could.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Christmas Ponderings
There is always something about the Christmas season, something I can't exactly identify. Perhaps its the magical surroundings that exude from the cold December winds and the tinkling of sounds and twinkling of colorful lights.
When I was a kid, it was always fun and exciting. I had few godparents and they always seem to be nowhere when the so called Ber months set in. Life then was just about a new toy truck or perhaps a school free vacation mornings where I get to watch Transformers or Super Friends (a fore runner of today's Justice League). In fact when I think about it, nothing seems to have changed that much except for technological upgrades and the massive consumerist culture we are immersed into right now.
After three decades of a not so amusing life, I found out that thirty Christmases aren't much of a change, that is when I look at all that is just fleeting. Its so hard for us to look at occasions like this which has gradually become a secular event. Its religious meaning has been stripped away, much like Easter and Thanksgiving. Family gatherings, food, gifts, carols and other trappings of a highly commercialized society have totally insulated us from the Event's main reason-the spiritual significance of Incarnation.
There is nothing wrong with family reunions, gift givings and healthy fun; I just hope we don't substitute the essence of it all, of why it started in the first place. We are fond of building monuments to honor our heroes and praise their valorous accounts but we rarely take initial steps to check ourselves and make serious commitments to emulate these paragons. We love the wrappers and never the gifts. We are mushy in terms of the virtues but rarely do we fix ourselves to develop these traits.
Maybe there is more to the wrapper, or the sights and sounds of the Yuletide season. Shouldn't these things point us to the very heart of the celebration at all-meditate on the unusual sacrifice the Creator of the Universe took to demonstrate His love for us? It is never too bad to sound religious (if thats what secularists prefer to call it) if the occasion calls for it. Religion after all is a basic human dimension. One cannot ignore it even if one confesses no religion at all.
I am grateful to companies, associations and people who have opted to celebrate the Season with the poor and downtrodden. I have always admired people who do so. Though of course, the skeptic in me would always say such acts are done for Pharisaic display, I do not deny that there are those who do so generously and with sincere motives. I admire these faceless people, never shown perhaps by the two warring TV stations yet they do the right thing.
They are with us, unnamed and unsung. They can be us if we choose to act in such manner. Yes we can despite our attempts to rationalize and blame our moral failures to genes, bad habits, bad upbringing, bad background and a long list of pathetic excuses. The very list we can do this Season is to wish for snow to come over our roofs and experience an American Christmas.
When I was a kid, it was always fun and exciting. I had few godparents and they always seem to be nowhere when the so called Ber months set in. Life then was just about a new toy truck or perhaps a school free vacation mornings where I get to watch Transformers or Super Friends (a fore runner of today's Justice League). In fact when I think about it, nothing seems to have changed that much except for technological upgrades and the massive consumerist culture we are immersed into right now.
After three decades of a not so amusing life, I found out that thirty Christmases aren't much of a change, that is when I look at all that is just fleeting. Its so hard for us to look at occasions like this which has gradually become a secular event. Its religious meaning has been stripped away, much like Easter and Thanksgiving. Family gatherings, food, gifts, carols and other trappings of a highly commercialized society have totally insulated us from the Event's main reason-the spiritual significance of Incarnation.
There is nothing wrong with family reunions, gift givings and healthy fun; I just hope we don't substitute the essence of it all, of why it started in the first place. We are fond of building monuments to honor our heroes and praise their valorous accounts but we rarely take initial steps to check ourselves and make serious commitments to emulate these paragons. We love the wrappers and never the gifts. We are mushy in terms of the virtues but rarely do we fix ourselves to develop these traits.
Maybe there is more to the wrapper, or the sights and sounds of the Yuletide season. Shouldn't these things point us to the very heart of the celebration at all-meditate on the unusual sacrifice the Creator of the Universe took to demonstrate His love for us? It is never too bad to sound religious (if thats what secularists prefer to call it) if the occasion calls for it. Religion after all is a basic human dimension. One cannot ignore it even if one confesses no religion at all.
I am grateful to companies, associations and people who have opted to celebrate the Season with the poor and downtrodden. I have always admired people who do so. Though of course, the skeptic in me would always say such acts are done for Pharisaic display, I do not deny that there are those who do so generously and with sincere motives. I admire these faceless people, never shown perhaps by the two warring TV stations yet they do the right thing.
They are with us, unnamed and unsung. They can be us if we choose to act in such manner. Yes we can despite our attempts to rationalize and blame our moral failures to genes, bad habits, bad upbringing, bad background and a long list of pathetic excuses. The very list we can do this Season is to wish for snow to come over our roofs and experience an American Christmas.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Dreams shoved in the closet
Langston Hughes once wrote a poem with the title "Dream Deferred". In a simple and straightforward way, he asked what becomes of dreams if they are set aside. I also thought about it. What happens when we stop believing and start acting like a unit in the grand scheme of the Matrix?
With childlike astuteness, Hughes wondered if dreams wrinkle up and grow useless. I guess they do. The human race is a species set above the rest because of its dreams. Though of late some of these dreams have become terrible nightmares.
We hope and dream big. It is the stuff of our movies, our conversations, our music, our goals in life. We are happy about thoughts that are yet far off, we await a future that we look forward to with anticipation.
We never seem to grow tired of them. It is after all free for everybody to dream greatly.
John Keating, the English professor in the movie "Dead Poet's Society" was right when he said that "it is in their dreams that men are free, it always was and will always thus be"
The bad thing ( I think) about growing up is that some adults become so rigid about life and stiff about its rules. I guess they are just as fed up and burned out like me-about life, about the government, about things that don't happen when you expect them to. Yet others admirably have become childlike in many ways.
With childlike astuteness, Hughes wondered if dreams wrinkle up and grow useless. I guess they do. The human race is a species set above the rest because of its dreams. Though of late some of these dreams have become terrible nightmares.
We hope and dream big. It is the stuff of our movies, our conversations, our music, our goals in life. We are happy about thoughts that are yet far off, we await a future that we look forward to with anticipation.
We never seem to grow tired of them. It is after all free for everybody to dream greatly.
John Keating, the English professor in the movie "Dead Poet's Society" was right when he said that "it is in their dreams that men are free, it always was and will always thus be"
The bad thing ( I think) about growing up is that some adults become so rigid about life and stiff about its rules. I guess they are just as fed up and burned out like me-about life, about the government, about things that don't happen when you expect them to. Yet others admirably have become childlike in many ways.
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