Ailung Avennoho Phom
Old Minister Hill, Kohima
What does society anticipate from young people? The answers are obvious: their intelligent minds to solve the hitch and snag that anchor the social order, innovative and creative minds to excite new ideas, bring immense transformation to the broken system, revive slumbering rule of law, assemble what they never divided and what not. And oftentimes, young people are tagged with the locution of being the leaders/citizens of tomorrow.
Yet, despite all the laudation for bright intelligent minds and expectations for consequential action, does society really care about what seed is being sown and watered in these young minds? The moral parameters of young people are in a precarious state, incited by indifference to existing problems and being naïve. The perils of young minds are constantly fueled by imparting manipulated and fabricated lies by ignorant generians. Truth contradicting the other truth is merely absurd. The real truth must never be confronted or entangled with each other.
This article wants to highlight the perplexities of the “Truth dilemma” confronted by young people, including the writer himself. One of the most difficult challenges that young people face in the present context is not the choice between right and wrong but between authentic truth and counterfeit truth. Everybody seems to speak the truth, but the perplexity is whether every glittering is a diamond or just a mere reflection of a dirty pond that glitters when sunlight falls on it.
One of the savant Indian parliamentarians and a writer, Dr. Shashi Tharoor, once said, “If you don’t know where you come from, how are you going to appreciate where you are going.” Guide the young minds with truth and honest history so that they can appreciate where they are heading. If our daily news from paper to gadget is flooded with bottomless history lessons, then how can you guarantee thousands of Naga young intelligentsia, with still perplexing history knowledge, to lead the society with justice and honesty? When multiple factions claim ‘we are the truth’, I’m afraid even Jesus would be dumbfounded. Young people are bewildered in fetching what really is meaningful and profound.
The baffling of young people does not limit itself to this hurdle. Another trend is the plight of tribes, village and clan history that often erroneously enlightens the budding intellect. When history is taught in rainbow colors and the young minds are left to pick their favorite, then again we are afraid that the future will never be kind to us. There are multiple lawsuits in this length and breadth of the society—tribes vs tribes, one village vs another, between and within the clan—that remain largely unsolved not because of the lack of truth but due to the simple fact: everybody has its own version of truth (history).
It is our desperate cry to our wise old and grey—don’t let young people circle the never-ending loopholes, don’t let the age-old grudges in your heart be a stumbling block for the young birds to fly from their nest, don’t let your one-time victory game destroy the infinite hope of the future, don’t let your insensible judgments and words sprout in the heart of innocent young minds.
Someone rightly said, “Tall trees can only be seen with the presence of the short ones.” There is truth somewhere in this topsy-turviness, and somebody needs to bell that truth before it is buried in the abyss beyond recall. Sow the seeds of true wisdom in these “Truth thirsty” young minds, then shall we begin our voyage to the promise land.
