Are Youth Changing the World?

Most of us watch the news of what’s happened in North Africa over the last few weeks and never take the time to ask how all this got started.  Sure we know people are upset and supposedly there are some evil dictators involved, but what about the fire-starters: who, or what, kicked off these revolutions?

Many attribute the Egyptian protests to people uniting through social networking to rally together 91% of the country’s 9.4% unemployed: the under-30s.  Some might suggest it was the 26 year-old vegetable vendor who set himself ablaze, literally and figuratively igniting the Tunisian protests.  His beef was with the government: he was denied the right to sell vegetables in a country where the youth unemployment rate is estimated at 30 percent.  Having spent time ministering in England, I was reminded of last November when youth in the UK were busy protesting high costs of education.  Realizing their college degrees would prove redundant in the modern job market, they took to the streets seeing their futures as hopeless.  English unemployment rate amongst youths: 20.3%.[1]

What are the common elements in these stories?  Perhaps it’s as simple as saying that unemployed youth like to protest and what they need to learn is to just deal with things in a nicer, more orderly fashion.  Or maybe we just need to give kids a job and things will settle down.  For me, I see a lacking element present in all of these stories: trust.  Governments’ fleshing out of their trust in young people hasn’t been obvious, and we all know how many youths have some form of distrust for “The Man”, right?  So in many instances we find oppressed youths venting all over the world trying to start a revolution while government officials sit back in their armchairs trying to decide how this opposition could benefit them in the next elections.  Messy business.

It’s with an honest self examination that I admit to harboring deep desires for revolution that I sometimes feel are inherent with my youthful age (28).  And, to be fair, I also possess some tendencies to distrust people who are younger than me.  That being said, it sometimes feels like God made young people to be instigators of change: radical and passionate, ready to do something, somewhere, anywhere.  Young people want to make a difference and be part of something bigger than themselves, not necessarily through rioting, but taking action to prove themselves trustworthy of making an impact on the world around them.  Perhaps it just takes a little trust.  It seems like Jesus did a fair amount of that.  Jesus himself was a revolutionary.  His time on earth barely eclipsed His twenties.  He even brought along young people to be a part of His ministry/fire-starting.  How was it that he could trust them, the young fishermen who would soon become His disciples and later be entrusted with planting the first churches?  What happens when young people are trusted and released to live out a calling to something bigger than themselves?

Perhaps Zachary Bonner would be considered a success story.  The Florida teenager walked 2,478 miles and raised close to $120,000 for kids in need.  Think about 25 year old Claire Wolff from St. Louis.  Her passion for young people and disappoint with their lack of reliable job opportunities led her to open up The Urban Studio Café, a coffee and sandwich shop which employs five neighborhood kids and hosts classes and workshops on printmaking, nutrition, and financial literacy.[2]

Maybe you know some young people who are part of changing the world, either locally or globally.  Why not share your stories here?  Perhaps it’s time for you to get involved.  Join the revolutions and become part of some history changing affairs.  Seek out opportunities to meet needs and make a difference in your community.  Prove yourself trustworthy and remember to engage in the difficult business of trusting others.    When you find yourself on the end of a most daunting mission, consider this: The biggest task I suppose ever set to mankind (establishing the Church here on earth) was entrusted to us by an infinitely wise and powerful God.  Maybe He’s trying to teach us something?

[1] http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23921694-were-wasting-the-lives-of-the-worlds-young.do

[2] http://www.americantowns.com/powerofone/readersdigest