“Unconfirmed reports that forces loyal to Cameron are attacking rebels in Trafalgar square.” – As seen on twitter (@ssafac)
Watching and reading daily news, I am wondering if this is the future we have all been preparing for. (No, not you already above thirty-five, please 🙂 ). First Tunisia, then Algeria, and then Egypt, and Bahrain, and Libya. And Nigeria. And Wisconsin. And now London. Young people all over the world are standing up to define what their generation is going to look like. There is a pleasant bubbling feeling in my gut that goes with thinking about it all. I bet it must feel like this during the Industrial Revolution too.
There are snags though, for me: the still unclear role of the American might in Libya, the Saudi role in suppressing the Bahrain uprising, the silent “educated” population of Zimbabwe still dithering under Mugabe, Lauren Gbagbo’s iron fist over Ivory Coast, Moammar Gadaffi’s very elaborate family connection all over Libya, and the greed and tribalism that sometimes raises their ugly heads in my own homeland, among many others. What is promising however is the prospect of a new world, under which our children will grow, where the pursuit of happiness and the determination of our destiny would be in the hands of a new generation of well informed youths. Here is the beginning, it seems, and it is fuelled by the Information Revolution.
Forty years from now, I look forward to seeing the new kind of world we would have built by that time. In our hands, the youths of today, are the keys to that future in India, China, Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica, Korea, Japan, Haiti, Tibet, Benin, Iraq, and several other places in need of a new direction to the future out of the hands of the old, tired hands. The biggest challenge, of course, is being able to transition into a long period of stability and concrete global direction without a debilitating period of war the type that defined the post Industrial Revolution era. Maybe this Information Revolution will come with it the tools of negotiating world peace without bloodshed that the world has always seen. Again, now I’m mostly curious, yet jubilant that at least the generational hand of the clock is moving, and it is touching all corners of the globe as it must, one after the other. There’s something good about that.
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John Ukah at http://chroniclesofaradicalmind.blogspot.com/
I always thought youth was a condition of the mind. That you can be youthful even when above 35? These age brackets are limiting! Isn’t there a saying that life begins at 40? Even those who are 35 still feel their life is ahead of them and not behind them!
In response to the kernel of the post ‘here is to the future’, it is heart warming that citizens of the world are taking their destinies in their hands. Enough of sitting on the fence and being lukewarm while delusional tyrants and despots run amok. That is an exciting future. That our children will have a better life with good governance, exemplary leadership and justice prevailing. And where these lofty ideals are missing the people will initiate change as power ultimately belongs to them.
In Nigeria, we have mercifully not had the sit-tight or ‘monarchy’ for life rulers but we have had some annoyingly kleptomanic and pedestrian leadership! It is time Nigerians also demand a new world order – more charismatic and visionary leadership!
Posted at March 27, 2011 on 2:37am.
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Kola at http://www.ktravula.com
Hey John,
My reference to the age bracket was tongue-in-cheek yet it is also an affirmation of a collective coming of age which only those of the age bracket (who have spent much of their lives being told that they can’t do anything right) can feel with the same intensity. I don’t know where youth starts, or ends, but I can say that clarity of thought and purpose is needed at any moment as this of new beginnings. If the post resonates with you, you may be one of those whose ideas can make a difference no matter how old you are.
Thank you for the comment.
Posted at March 27, 2011 on 2:51am.