WHAT does the above statement mean? The title, from George Bernard Shaw, is often the lament of retired people who feel their energies slowly dissipating yet looking at the youth wasting their zest and vitality on trivial matters. The quote can also express the deep regrets of the elderly on how they have spent their youthful energies. It can be a plea against ageism that does not value the wisdom that comes from seniority. The quote can also be appropriated to refer to the juvenile who are unexpectedly seduced by corruption and traditional politics. “So young, yet so corrupt,” was a description of a budding politician. The quote can also be an expression of cynicism against the raw idealism of the young that is rendered inutile because of their naivete.
The same sentiments are expressed in a song by Cat Stevens, where a father tells a son: “It’s not time to make a change. Just relax, take it easy. YOU’RE STILL YOUNG, THAT’S YOUR FAULT. There’s so much you have to know. Find a girl, settle down, if you want you can marry. Look at me, I am old, but I’m happy. I was once like you are now, and I know it’s not easy to be calm when you found something going on.” (my emphasis).
What could have been the thoughts behind the lyrics where the father tells the son to be calm even when something’s going on? Is it a warning not to be impulsive but instead think well? Was the father holding the hand brakes when the son was forcefully stepping on the accelerator? Such warnings are well meaning. Indeed, I often received such admonitions from my mother during my student days in Manila. She must have been deathly worried every time she saw pictures of seminarians leading protests against Marcos dictatorship.
But methinks the old cannot be dismissive of the idealism of the young. Seniors can guide the juniors. The former can present facts if the latter’s activism is reduced to sloganeering. The old can and must dialogue and even argue with the young on the very substance of what the latter are saying. But the old cannot just say, “Tanggapin mo na lang ang katotohanan na ikaw ay musmos lang na wala pang alam. Makinig ka na lang.” Life goes not backwards nor tarries with yesterday, Kahlil Gibran reminds us.
Youthful idealism, though often expressed awkwardly, oftentimes is the driving force for change. Consider our history: Andres Bonifacio was 29 when he founded the Katipunan. Gregorio del Pilar was 24 when he died in the Battle of Tirad Pass. Rizal wrote his two novels from the time he was in his mid- to his late-20s. He was 35 when he was executed. Emilio Jacinto was 19 when he joined the Katipunan. Apolinario Mabini was in his early 30s when he became the principled adviser of the Katipunan.
In 2001, when I was at that stage in life when I began to identify myself with those veterans who claim to have been there and done this or that, I bemoaned the younger generation. Together with the people of my age, I felt that the young were not the same as before when we stood up against a powerful establishment. But I was happily proven wrong when many of them slept in Edsa for days to demand the resignation of a corrupt president. And contrary to the claims of the Marcoses that the millennials have moved on, young students vociferously, though vainly, shouted against the burial of the disgraced dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. They can put submissive adults to shame.
If the examples from our nation’s history are not enough, we can, of course, cite the case of the young man from the little town of Nazareth who went to Jerusalem and confronted the well-entrenched temple establishment. He was 33 when the Roman empire, upon the instigation of the Jewish temple leadership, sentenced him to crucifixion.
Thus, I am not bothered when the young cry for change. I am more worried when the young are busy playing DOTA, watching Netflix, posting selfies, idolizing Coco Martin, instead of trying to help build a just society. Even worse is when the young’s idea of radicalism is to share fake news and endorse a brutal war. That’s the time when youth are wasted on the young.
The examples in the preceding paragraph question the stereotype that the young are always the dreamers and idealists while the old are the carriers of the burdens of tradition. This is not always the case. In the seminary, there are the youth whose passions are directed to the external liturgical pomposity and not the authentic worship of God in spirit and truth. There are seminarians who are afraid to go beyond stale scholastic formula and not engage in critical thinking and creative interpretations of the Bible and magisterial teachings. And there are those who passively accept what is handed to them, without asking why.
Neither are the old people necessarily just the guardians of the status quo. In my days of student activism, my idols then were old people like Lorenzo Tañada, Jovito Salonga and JBL Reyes. And let’s not forget octogenarians like Pope John XXIII and Pope Francis. They have revolutionized, and continue to revolutionize the Church.
One lesson is that we should do away with stereotypes: The young are the Communists, the old are the capitalists; the young are the deconstructionists and iconoclasts, the old idolize the past; the young are postmodernists, the old are pre-modernists.
Instead, the young must fight for their ideals, and may they continue to do so even when they reach old age.--Fr. Ramon Echica