How I see YOUth?

I am a Filipino youth with dedication, discipline, determination and nationalism; I

can make the Philippines a better place.
Who are you today? Who is the youth today? In this fast- paced generation where
everything in life can be acquired with one touch or one look, where anything is
very easy, where nothing is nearly impossible lies a total bizarre youth. Their
perception about the world totally differs.
A 1972 adolescent talks to her
classmates about how martial law has its pros and cons; a 2013 teenage girl talks
about how many likes her profile picture has garnered. An assumption is that these
youngsters before are more productive citizens, more inclined to national
participation and more critical to their environment. What brought the change? Is
National Progress still a part of their vocabulary and priorities?
Where are the youth who will devote their golden hours, their illusions and their
enthusiasm to the welfare of their native land? These are the words of Gat Jose
Rizal from the novel El Filibusterismo. This is an open statement to instill in every
young adults mind the commitment to the country. But where are they?
Almost half of the worlds population and one third of the Philippine population is
consisted of the 15-24 year olds who are considered as the youth. Therefore, they
truly affect the society because of this growing number of them. Instead, of being
the hope of our country they seem to be the major dilemma that the nation is
encountering. In the year 1996, the survey conducted by Social Weather Station
said that Filipino youth are proud to be citizens of our country, easily declaring
willingness to defend the country in case of war. But as time passes by, theres an
unexpectedly high incidents of youth involvement in criminality, illegal drug use,
and pre-marital sex. It seems that they are misdirected. Why?
Another noticeable change in this times adolescents is their engagement in
technology. They prefer virtual interaction like facebooking, tweeting, e-mailing,
virtual chatting and the like than a personal interaction. They, we, are very much
exposed to social media. More often, they post online to express themselves which
has become an enormous trend (which also brought negative effects to everyone).
The good thing about this everyday, everywhere plugged in generation is that we
can easily reach for more people across the globe but must use this advancement
responsibly. The use of social media to spread words and actions on how to
renovate, recreate and innovate this state is very much welcome than posting
unnecessary stuff.
Can we find hope in the young, people of today who are fond of procrastinating,
spending hours on the not so-valuable stuff dont even know how to prioritize,
appreciate or empathize?

The youth of yesterday is just the same as the youth of today in terms of behavior.
The adults also have experienced, thought and felt as how the youth do at present.
It is just that the trend is different, for today is undoubtedly more advanced than
before.

Though the advancements somehow became the reason on how the youth behaves
today, we can still find hope in them if they keep in their minds that the total
strength needed by our own Pearl of Orient is within their hands.