We are severely surrounded by worrying issues concerning teenagers these days. Mat Rempit here and there. 7-year-old boy sniffing glue, sleeping amongst the debris on the street. Partying around, sex everywhere; they call it liberal way of living. University dropouts on the rise, whilst the list of jobless graduates never ceases to increase. Lack of concern towards the community. Not respecting the elderly. Resulting in the former Yang Di-Pertuan Agong stood up and voiced out his concern to the public. Now, that is serious.
Then we see how people’s apprehension was aired, extensively publicized public forums were held, and countless organizations were organized, but the result?
What good is brought when a distinguished youth’s organization decided to call a troop of Mat Rempits for the North Pole’s free fall exploration? A good way to finish people’s money I guess, or perhaps to squeeze in some good names into the record book and open the apathetic public eyes, which in turn leads to more votes during the election. In the end, my predict says those Mat Rempit would go back to their racing lanes, bohsias in their cuddle, boasting about how they deceived those people to bring them thousands of miles away to do the silly, futile exploration, purportedly bringing the good name of the country. And the organization people, on the other side of the scope, would walk proudly in the middle of the city amongst throngs, claiming that in doing such so-called feat they had triumphantly helped the country. Well, probably not a reality, merely a wild guess which apparently might be wrong.
Being a teenager myself, my thinking is, everything starts from our own selves. Not denying laudable efforts from the others, but simply telling that we ourselves ought to change if good results are to be expected. How? Simple. Read daily newspapers. Help an old blind man crossing the road. Go to the nearby soccer field to support you local team, not jeering at them. Stop watching porn. Ask your father if his car needs to be washed. Get to know the name of your neighbour next door. Make a difference. In this sense, I truly agree with TheCicak for their article on ten things we can do to make a difference. Also, the government does not pay to send you overseas to see you partying with chicks, do they? Nor did your parents expect to accompany you at the hospital bedside following an injury from a series of night rempiting when they give you a Honda Cub on your 18th birthday.
This does not mean the other side of the community circle, non-teenagers alike can simply sit down and stop doing their parts though. There are still plenty, plenty of works that can be done. Members of the parliament, stop pointing fingers and rambles on trivial issues. Bocor sana, bocor sini, what the heck? There, your child is left at home contemplating on which road to rempit on tonight, or which pub to go, you never know. Believe me, their action is only inviting laughter from the global audience having watched them on the YouTube. Change, again that is the key.
From shoulder to shoulder, let us make a whole different world, starting from our own selves. Then only we can improve as a whole unit of community, and the jobless will finally get jobs, and so on and so forth.
The most difficult part, of course, is to change.
