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Giving Power To Young People
do to what we are. Too often young
innate goodness, profoundly changes our people and indeed adults, too) base
perception of young people. From being a their sense of identity on the values of
problem waiting to be solved, a young the society in which they live; the way
person, as an individual, becomes a they would like to be seen by others,
potentially rich and vital source of or the way they think others see
creativity and goodness for our society. As them. Identity becomes centred on
is our vision, so is our world. factors such as gender, race, culture,
Reflection and the generation of fashion or wealth. Much energy goes
positive thoughts about the self, into defending this identity, and any
relationships and the community is the threat can lead to anger and
primary method of empowering the self eventually violent behaviour. In a
for personal change. Thoughts lead to study in Boston, USA, young
attitudes, feelings, words and behaviour. offenders were asked what made
The power of thought is extremely them commit crime. The most
under-estimated, yet it is at the root of all common answer was that they were
that we do in life. A five minute dis-respected by someone, i.e. their
expression of anger or violence can be the identity was threatened. This answer Rajiv Mehta from Mombasa, Kenya, result of maybe an hour, a day, a week or was so common that it was simply speaking about his own understanding of even months of negative and angry abbreviated to "he dis me?
the word success
thinking. In the process of releasing A stronger sense of identity,
anger, a massive amount of energy is which cannot be so easily eroded or
wasted. By contrast, a positive and threatened by others or by circumstances, has its foundation in inspired thought can take a lifetime of good work to express, the positive qualities inherent in each and every individual. generating energy as it goes. Such is the power of thought. The innate goodness and the natural capacity to love and to Reflection and silence therefore remain the starting point serve are part of our spiritual identity. Qualities such as love, in transforming attitudes and behaviour, through which we peace, wisdom, strength and joy are at the core of our inner are able to access our inner qualities and values, and our selves. Using guided reflection, we have helped many young spiritual identity. people to release these qualities and consciously allow them to Young people learn by witnessing, not by what is said to become part of their personality, thereby empowering them to them. Children are acutely sensitive to dishonesty or double make positive choices. The outer expressions of these qualities standards. For parents, teachers, youth leaders and all who are the spiritual values such as compassion, care, tolerance, work with young people in different contexts, the first respect, honesty, humility and co-operation. The absence of a requirement is to model the values they wish to encourage. real sense of self leads to material values, in which things such This involves us to look deeply and carefully at our own values, as status, position and wealth are more valuable than human and live them in our everyday life. We live our values when we
use them in every interaction. A role model is always on show. That our inherent goodness is so much denied by society is This is the biggest responsibility we have towards our young a form of violence towards the individual. It is at the root of so people: to provide role models they so urgently need. Living many of our social problems. This denial of our true worth our values creates personal integrity, and integrity is leads to a lack of self-esteem and self-respect, the seed of which contagious. is the thoughts that denigrate the self, e.g. thoughts of failure In the words of one local head teacher: "You are like a or self-hate. Violent behaviour is used either as an expression stone thrown into a pond, and the ripples can be enormous, of self-hate, or as defence against further threats to self-esteem. and you never know whose heart you are going to
When inherent qualities guide behaviour, a young person touch.". is much more resilient to peer pressure, as he or she now has a source of good feeling about the self. The self-esteem and self- Maureen Goodman is the programme co-ordinator for the reliance that resulted enable the young person to make their Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University in London. This own choices based on sound moral values, such as those paper was delivered at a national conference on 'Empowering mentioned above. Research has shown that these values are Young People in the 21st Century' held in London in November universally desired by humanity, and are universally acceptable 1999. For more information, visit www.bkwsu.com. The as basic tenets of a just and peaceful society.
Brahma Kumaris have a major book and educational This change of vision of the individual to someone with programme for young people called 'Living Values
life.
March - May 2000. Jain Spirit
37
Jain Education Interational 2010_03
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