Young means young everywhere. Definitions could be various but for me being young has nothing to do with age. Instead - young equals being curious, full of energy and enthusiasm about things that (hopefully) matter. However it, as well, is about, as we say in Latvia, ‘being green’– being in the state of self-development, at the point where everything surrounding us can have a strong (either positive or negative – it is probably very subjective matter) influence and therefore it gets confusing at some times.
Nevertheless, the mind of a young is a great mechanism, which should never stop generating ideas and having constant flow of thoughts. While thinking about these matters I always remember Godard’s movie called La Chinoise*. Even though, it was shot in 1967 during the cultural revolution in France, I can still connect the movie with my days and my region, particularly - with what me and my friends sometimes are going trough when gathering together and having sometimes heated (yes, of course, mostly being on the state of fuddle and some alcohol haze) discussions on „how to fix the world”.
In brief, the movie shows us five enthusiasts, French students, who, due to all the political and economical situation in their country, start to explore the ideas of Marxism-Leninism paying particular attention to the texts of Mao’s Little Red Book (the theme song is catchy, by the way). However, as the movie goes on, the viewer starts to realize that all the effort they make is more superficial and it actually functions to serve rather fashionable movement instead of contributing the great revolution they are planning but eventually not reaching. Sadly or fortunately, the real action takes more than just talk and, in fact, requires plenty of courage, rationality, support and even skill.
A scene from movie La Chinoise (1967). Source: lightsinthedusk.blogspot.com
Yet, is it bad that younger ones are trying to deal with problems in ways that seem to have no apparent results? Well, speaking of me and my peers I do carry a bit of disappointment because nowadays their interests sometimes does not go much further than money, shopping and latest blockbusters. And many of them blindly believes in „wrong” and „right” principles giving only answers they have been taught in school or given by parents but rarely having thought-out their own opinion about the matters. However, one can see some great examples around too and luckily I can say that many of them are among my friends.
As for me, I believe that even though sometimes the small revolutions we are creating in our kitchens (somehow all the parties almost always end up in the kitchen even though it can be the smallest room in the whole flat) seem to be forgotten once the last bottle have been emptied and the last perfectionist have passed out, these interactions between opinions, sometimes reaching even some long arguing, are healthy and desirable to keep the mechanism going. And history surely proves that.
In the middle and end of 19th century in the University of Tartu a bunch of bright Latvian students** now known as Jaunlatvieši or Young Latvians were doing exactly the same – they saw the situation around them in totally novel perspectives and guess what – they did not stop just by the thought itself but went on further. They brought the discussions outside the auditoriums and continued the movement in their dormitories and gatherings. In brief, thanks to the strives of these young enthusiasts Latvian culture and language were developed significantly and in a completely new sense; and even though this intellectual revolution was started only by just a small group of students, their names are written in our history books for all the times.
And I have seen plenty of these kind of examples during my travels as well. In the middle of January I and 2 other students arrived in Ukraine. Tickets were booked in autumn, around four months before the trip, and we had no idea what is going to happen there until our arrival. Political hell accompanied by protests, burning buses, blocked streets. And the most furious people we met were the young ones. Of course, you would see people of all ages and statuses being out there yet what we noticed particularly was the fact that at this time very rarely one could meet a young person, who would not have an opinion about the situation, who would not care; most of them were actually creating strategies and knee-deep in participating in whatever happened in Maidan and European Square although it was extra-part of their everyday life besides job and/or studies. No one asked them to spend their time and effort there but seemed as if the idea of doing so came very naturally. They felt something wrong going on and decided not only to think about it but get to the real action to show that their voices need to be heard.
So either the thought is big or small, look for people, who also appreciate opportunity of bringing knowledge (it does not necessarily means to have a certain degree) into actions, and gladly share it, because one can never know in what a great result some seemingly insignificant intellectual collisions of ‘inexperienced youth’ can lead on to.
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*trailer’s available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfuFjA2NOx0/
** it is worth pointing out that it was not common for Latvians to be able to study in university back then, it was a privilege to have.