Exhausted youth: Navigating abuse, economic struggles and a pandemic
Yearly, we are reminded of the greatness of the youth of yesteryear, of the way they influenced change and affected the freedoms we enjoy.
Mmusi Maimane visits the Hector Pieterson memorial in Soweto on Youth Day, 16 June 2020. Picture: Neil McCartney
Yesterday, with no fanfare, I celebrated my very last Youth Day. Why? I am simply too old.
I am too old to enjoy the benefits of this very youth. Too young to make any political impact but too old to enjoy the innocence of being a young one in the land of my birth.
Aged 35, the job market expects 12 years’ work experience. Locked out of the opportunities of economic opportunities – but expected to grow quickly enough to impact change.
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The halls of power are littered by men and women who are well past retirement age and failing to adapt to the ever-changing global economy and political landscape. Their inputs are as prehistoric as the times they entered the world’s political stage – their ideas, contributions ideas of innovations, completely outdated.
Considered high-risk in times of Covid-19, but young enough to remain in power, to steer us into the Fourth Industrial Revolution and beyond?
The youth remains locked out based on age – our education, our determination – our hunger for change as the youth is worth nothing more than the paper we write our dreams on.
Yearly, we are reminded of the greatness of the youth of yesteryear, of the way they influenced change and affected the freedoms we enjoy – we are implored to rise to the occasion and take up our space in the chapters of history.
We are required to step outside of the hangover of the night before and away from the camera of the Instagram and Facebook smiles. We are told to become concerned with politics, economics and social agendas.
Yes, many had to bury their youth at its prime; forced to take to the streets and demand that education be made accessible – not reserved to those with economic means.
Today, youth is lost, too, as they escape the abuse at home; become homemakers in homes of cohabitation before being prepared for the mental and emotional maturity that hold these homes together.
Our youth today is lost to having to escape the exhaustion of youth…
