A lawyer friend of mine initiated to organize a youth forum here in our parish within our barangay (Parish of Our Lady of the Abandoned, Brgy. Hulo) to educate and build awareness among the youth so that they may discover and understand their roles at this time of political crisis. Also, to allow them to critically think what really needs to be done as youth leaders.
About 57 youth attended the forum today and eagerly participated in the short dramatization activity on how they understand what is happening around them particularly in politics. They also listened attentively to the guest speaker who was once a youth activist at the time of Marcos, a leader of a big youth organization, a former partylist Congressman and currently, a lawyer. The speaker shared his experience as a youth activist and explained in simple terms why activist do what they have to do for the country.
My personal opinion says that the speaker gave a powerful parting words to the youth, "Never stop dreaming! / 'Wag tumigil mangarap!" I do agree that most of the youth today stopped dreaming about having a good future while in their country. But instead are lured by media, government and even their own families to find their luck abroad and earn dollars and euros despite of the needs of this country.
This kind of initiative are encouraged to continuously remind our society of the values originally taught by institutions that shape us as a person - family, school, government, Church, peers - but can now be easily distorted because of media and technology. Efforts such as sustained education and awareness campaign through organizing forums, discussions and dialogues is one way of motivating some sections of the civil society such as the youth to act according to their judgement.
No comments:
Post a Comment