Sunday, October 17, 2010
just something i blogged about, see what you guys think.
just something i blogged about, see what you guys think.
Too often. Gen X doesn't get Gen Y.
Being 21, the stage where I'm ''not a girl not yet a woman'', I feel like it is our duty to bridge that gap. We've been there done that and we're getting the hang of the responsibilities of being a working grown up.
On friday I reluctantly went for parish mission mass and sharing. A long 2 hour mass after 2 hours of dragging myself back to gardens is not the most exciting thing to do :\ I went for it in the end as my dad didn't give me a choice. :\
At the sharing I felt a sense of dejavu, being in that same position where I was the only youth representative in the group(like in the social mission conference). I didn't want to go for the youth sharing because I wanted to hear what grown ups have to say. Too often, adults are heard lecturing, telling us about the old days of poverty and unfortunately scolding/nagging. So I figured listening to them talk about god experiences would be greatly refreshing.
I was slightly disappointed as the sharing turned into a discussion of what we can do for church and how to make it better. That subject predictably became a complaint session and parents being disappointed with the youth of today who are turning their backs on the church.
I finally got to speak after a long series of ramblings and interjections.
"could I give my point of view?"
In a family context, Parents are so preoccupied with imparting right values and taking care of the family, this isn't wrong but because we've only gone through one life, we only know one life and we try and take all those lessons from that one life and shove it to the youngsters. Also, because adults have been through more and are wiser, they are the authority and sometimes fail to hear the other side of the story, to understand the problem in today's context. Especially since our world is changing so fast. We can't put old wine into new skins, so neither can we use old solutions to remedy the new.
As for the youth, the old are old. There is always the feeling of the parent not listening, not understanding, being so old fashioned... We can't blame them because they aren't living in this context. A lot of times I hear adults complain and I feel like rebutting and arguing my point but for fear of being scolded and out of respect I wouldn't, brushing it off as "they won't understand anyway". But I am sure they could if they would.
Therefore I realize that the best solution is communication. There needs to be greater understanding between the generations. It is an awful waste for great advice and experience from people to fall on to deaf ears. Likewise, it is unfortunate that cries for help are pushed to one side. I'm sure if we understood each other's situation we wouldn't be so angry. Instead, all we ever do is complain to the authority. Maybe this is why Singaporeans don't voice out opinions, because we're afraid to share, afraid to be proactive, too lazy to find an effective solution to the root problem. I know I am all that but I think something could be done.
In reference to the whole church parish mission thing, the whole idea about bringing the sfx church closer and helping each other to build up each other's spiritual lives. I thought about setting up a blog. A website where there are beautiful testimonials to bring the entire community closer. There could be a theme like "what is your god experience" and people could write a testimonial and send it in. Anonymous or not, it doesn't really matter. The church has some 8000 families but isn't that the power of the internet? To be accessible to many people. All it takes is a moderator or 2 and a couple of volunteers who would write testimonials.
I haven't thought of other solutions yet though. :\
let me know what you think.
-jes