Encourage youth as agents of change

AS WE celebrate another Youth Day on June 16, let us recommit ourselves to empowering our youth to become agents of change for building a better world.

It is within the power of our youth to contribute significantly to shaping the societies of the coming decades.

“The transformation which is to occur in the functioning of society will certainly depend to a great extent on the effectiveness of the preparations the youth make for the world they will inherit,” says the Universal House of Justice, governing council of the worldwide Bahá’í community.

An effective preparation would empower our youth to act in the long-term interests of the humanity as a whole; it would guide our youth to consider people of all backgrounds as members of one human family and to be just towards all.

In our increasingly interdependent world, there is need to nurture in our youth an appreciation for the richness and importance of the world’s diverse cultural, religious and social systems.

By nurturing in our children and youth the consciousness of the oneness of human family and promoting the common good through serving others, we can empower them to build better communities and a safe, just and peaceful world.

An effective preparation for our youth would involve acquiring useful qualifications and spiritual qualities and developing a high-minded outlook and upright character.

Education is the most effective way to harness the power of the values, attitudes, behaviours and skills of our children and youth towards building better communities and a peaceful world. It is, however, important that education, whether at home or at school, guides our children and youth in their moral empowerment as well as their intellectual development.

According to the Bahá’í Writings: “The proper education of children is of vital importance to the progress of mankind, and the heart and essential foundation of all education is spiritual and moral training.”

Through effective guidance, our youth can be empowered to override the needs of their lower nature in keeping with ethical requirements, to control and channel their natural drives and urges and to transform them into human perfections.

Our approaches to education often treat youth in a passive way, as receptacles of information rather than active community members.

Yet young people are anxious to become partners in helping to plan the world they will inherit. It is through service to others that youth can grow personally and enhance their capacity to become agents of change by contributing to progress.

In the Bahá’í view, an effective education “will cultivate virtue as the foundation for personal and collective well-being, and will nurture in individuals a deep sense of service and an active commitment to the welfare of their families, their communities, their countries, indeed, all mankind”.

A balanced education, through combining spiritual and intellectual education, will help our youth to develop ability and interest to work for the common good.

Encouraging youth to independently search for truth in all matters, and to combine science and religion, belief and reason, will help free them from fanaticism and superstition, and let them thrive.

For feedback please contact: tshwane@bahai.org.za; or call 083 794 0819. Website: www.bahai. org, www.bahai.org.za