But something I heard on the radio this morning gave me pause. The announcer I was listening to wondered that since more than two decades have passed since Mandela walked free, does our current generation really and truly understand that history, who Mandela was, and what he stood for? Without a role model like Mandela for our youth, how will they be able to move the world along in a peaceful, positive, and productive way?
This irked me because it is an example of messages I keep hearing about how "kids these days" are lazy, unmotivated, and selfish, and how they do not know how to communicate other than through texting. When these huge generalizations blanket an entire population, there is also another message going on: that we, the older generation (s) are so much better, that we have done so much better. Do we really know this to be true? I think we do know that generalizing and judging gets us nowhere. We need to do less complaining about our young people and do more - much more - towards building them up so that they know their greatness.
Mandela said: "Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. YOU can be that great
generation. Let your greatness blossom.”
Let me step up and say this: I have faith in our youth. We do not have to look far for examples on the beautiful work today's young people: Youth Challenge International is a global development organization that promotes youth innovation to drive positive change; Operation Beautiful is a group that organizes the posting of anonymous notes of encouragement and strength in public places for other people to find; Free the Children is an international charity and educational partner, working both domestically and internationally to empower and enable youth to be agents of change; and there are dozens of peace organizations for youth.
Some of my faith is anecdotal because a lot of young people traipse through my house and spend time here. I have found that when they are given respect and attention, they demonstrate their articulate thoughts about social issues, politics, and environmental issues. They have good ideas. While volunteering for the Salvation Army Kettle Campaign a few weeks ago, I can safely say that at least half of our donors were young people, some of whom looked liked the kind of "punk" we like to dismiss as respectable because of their clothes, slang, tattoos, piercings, and how their cell phones are always in their hands. And they were often generous, beautifully generous.
Of course there are failings and weaknesses in today's youth, but my generation, and those generations before me have them too. We must stop considering ourselves as superior and open our eyes to our youth's tremendous potential for compassion, innovation, hard work, creativity, peace, love, and leadership.
Mandela said: “Lead from the back.”
We must let go of how we think our youth should be and start, as Mandela believed, leading from the back. It may look like a contradiction of what we have come to believe good leadership is, but leading from the back requires us to be patient and to have faith in those in front of us. Leading from the back means we need to feel so sure of ourselves that we can let some of our power go and not feel threatened. When we are confident enough to lead from the back, we will be knocked out by the beauty in front of us. And I bet we will know peace.
This is a longer post than usual. Thank you for your patience for my many words and thank you for reading.
wishing you the kind of beautiful day of peace that Nelson Mandela worked so hard towards,
hk
I have so much to say. If you were disappointed in me before for having not seen the Godfather trilogy, hold onto your seat. I'm no longer part of our youth. I'm not saying I'm old but I'm certainly not in that category of being young, anymore. I am mostly ignorant of Nelson Mandela's story and accomplishments. When time permits I plan to educate myself but I have other societally beneficial activities to complete, first.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, as for giving youth respect and credibility, as a kid who had something to add to the conversation, when what I had to say was dismissed by the adults involved in the conversation it irritated me. I was always given credit for being so mature but in those times when I was trying to exercise that maturity, and was dismissed, it was incredibly frustrating. For that reason I try my best to never talk to kids in that kindergarten teacher voice because they deserve more credit than that. Kids are so much more observant than adults and whether it's a cheesy movie or real life, when a kid is trying to get your attention you don't know what they are seeing but if you take a second to listen they might save you time, effort or even more if they notice something you should be aware of.
As for leading from the back, I understand the analogy he was getting at and understand the point of having adequate confidence to not be insecure by letting others feed or benefit from your hard work, all of which is leading to the same goal. But, leading the organizing of events or projects, with out the authority to effect consequences for failure or laziness, has led me to a point of frustration with the concept of leading. It is no secret that I tend to believe stronger in the stick than in the carrot but I think there should be room for both. Unfortunately, I've encountered enough lazy people who do not fulfill their obligations and end up damaging everyone else involved in what they are doing. I believe that everyone should be given plenty of second chances and be forgiven for mistakes but that does not mean that consequences do not come to pass.
Sorry for my rant on leadership. Perhaps I have not seen a large enough proportion of beauty in front of me when leading to feel peace about what I lead. His point is still well taken.
I guess we will have to have a conversation about this, Jason. I think I have often led from the back and experienced great success in doing so. One of my theories on leadership is to hire people smarter than yourself, and when I did this, they pretty much all turned out to be talented and exceptional human beings who were invested in their jobs (paid or unpaid). And when someone is invested in their job/role, magic happens.
ReplyDeleteThere's no question. I have been really lucky to work with a bunch of geniuses over the years. :)
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