Leadership in Young People.

Long time ago, a phrase was coined. It read something like this, "today's children are tomorrows citizens". It was considered that children form the pillars of the nation in the years to come. That is a truth. Children and young people are the future of a nation. Our nation requires leaders in every field who can bring in new awareness and new life of prosperity to our country. Each young boy and girl of today have the great responsibility on their shoulders for building a better tomorrow. We cannot be satisfied with one or two great leaders, what our nation requires is an entire generation of great leaders. And people like us can provide that leadership. People like who are in their early and mid teens should develop a great vision for yourself, your family, your society and your nation.

India has been enslaved by several nations for over 1000 years. India was once upon a time a great land of prosperity and knowledge. India was a leader in spiritual and intellectual wisdom and our ancient Indian wisdom is now beginning to get recognition in the world. After more than 5000 years of slumber the world is waking up to see once again the knowledge of Indian people. But our country has a long way to go before we become prosperous, peaceful and powerful. This is only the beginning. The youth of today are going to be the leaders of tomorrow. So each one of us have a responsibility which is sacred and which we should not shirk in the face of difficulty and pain.

In 1947 our enslavement ended once and for all and a new India was born. It was born out of a long and painful struggle. Thousands of people laid down their lives in this struggle. Though largely peaceful and non-violent, our freedom struggle required more than two generations of Indian people to come together and fight the oppression and suppression of nationhood. What we enjoy today is due to leadership of great people who belonged to our earlier generations.

Our country was born out of struggle, pain and tremendous sacrifices by millions. It is then our sacred duty to carry on this great leadership into the future generations and pass on a greater country to the generations that will come after us.

In front of each one of you, is a great life waiting to be lived. How do you want to live it? You should accomplish something so great in your life that your deeds should light up a thousand lives. Bring peace, prosperity and happiness to scores of people.

Social Consciousness.

Dip a glass in the ocean and fill the glass with ocean water. You have in your hand a tiny part of the ocean. It is separate from the ocean but still retains its properties even after being separated. It is separate and yet remains the same ocean water. If you throw it back you will never find it. At once it is separate and at once it is one with the great ocean. Similarly people. We are all individuals, separate, unique, special and different. But yet we are all a part of the great ocean of humanity. Humanity is made up by all of us. Our society is made by all of us. We are all different from each other but without all of us there would be no society.

All our riches, fame, name and money will amount to nothing if they do not have a positive effect on the people around us.

It is our duty towards ourselves to lead a happy and prosperous life based on strong values and principles. It is our duty to contribute to the society we live in so that our success affects others' lives positively. Or else the successes of a few individuals will always be there but the society at large never progresses.

Our success should not result in failure for someone else. Don't we all love to live in a society where the roads are beautiful, the traffic is orderly, medicines and food are available for every body, everyone gets to go to a good school...? We all want these. Who can do all these things? It is us. We have to do it because we make the society. Each one us is like a glass of ocean water and when we all come together we become an ocean - strong, vast and powerful.

Others' success does not mean your failure.

Once a man opened a bakery in a busy locality. His bakery was doing good business and a lot of people began to buy goods  from his bakery. He was happy as he was making a lot of money. After a few months, another man opened a bakery in the same locality. The owner of the first bakery got angry and felt that he is going to lose all his customers to the new bakery. He wanted the customers to come only to his bakery. So he hired some goondas and sent them to destroy the glasses and windowpanes in the new bakery. But that bakery did not close down. So he bribed the electricity officials and cut power supply to the other bakery and then he threatened the employees of the other bakery, after many such attempts, he at last succeeded in his efforts and the other bakery closed down.
       
 Please answer this queries:
  §  What was the mistake of the owner of the first bakery?
    § Did the locality benefits or lose from the closing of the        second bakery?
    §  If you were to give the owner of the first bakery some            advise what will you tell him?

It is common to witness people competing with each other and thereby pulling down each other in the process. This comes from a kind of thinking which says that everyone should not benefit. And if someone benefits I will have to lose. We should realize that we cannot have everything at the expense of others. And also realize that nobody needs to lose because we have to win. Everyone in the society can win without anybody having to lose. When people want everything for themselves then the society never progresses. Individuals get rich but the society remains poor. So remember - everyone has the right to succeed, no one should stop others from prospering. Competition should be on a fair level and should not hinder others. When you grow up do not forget that you can make all the riches that you want without having to trample on others' riches. You can win at the same time help others to win too. That's when you will contribute to our society in a good way.

Data, ideas and information.

When we look at data with an idea we have information. Data by itself is useless unless we look at it with an idea. Information is powerful because it can help us to create new things and get things done. Information can help us in overcoming problems and take decisions correctly.

Suppose you are in a bus stop waiting for a bus no.33. You can see all the other buses, which are not no.33, but they are not useful to you. Such buses are data. When you see the bus no.33 you get into it because you look at bus no.33 with an intention to go somewhere. So bus no.33 is information to you to make the journey. While all the other buses are just data.

What happens when you want to board a bus no.33. We seek that bus. That means we look for the bus no.33 among a lot of buses which we keep seeing. Similarly in life. There is a lot of data available in the world. But not all data is useful to us. Only that data which we see through the spectacles of an idea is useful information to us.

We should remember always then, that all the data we receive in our life is not always useful to us. We should learn to look at the data with an idea. Most Indian boys and girls strive to become successful at a young age and even each one you should do that. If you want to succeed at that then the first thing you should learn to do is to look at data in your life with an idea. 

Always try to find what you can do with what you have. This way, seemingly useless things will become useful.

Temptations.

Young people are most vulnerable. Everything you do between the age of 14 to 20 is almost first-time activity. This is the age when you undergo bodily changes and feel attracted for the first time towards the opposite sex.

Most young people operate their lives from half-knowledge and thereby make a lot of mistakes. There is nothing wrong in making mistakes. We all make mistakes and that is how we all learn. But we need to be responsible for our mistakes and we should not shirk responsibility for those mistakes, nor should we repeat them.

There are many temptations for a young person to step onto the wrong paths. Every person has to decide for himself what path he will choose in his life. And bear the consequences of the decisions he takes.

Because of temptations many youth spend their time in wasteful activities which harm their life in the later stages. Habits like smoking, drinking reckless social behavior are a result of newness in life coupled with ignorance, and arrogance of youth.

What should a young person do if he is taking the wrong path? The truth is that every person has to decide for himself what he should do. Even if there are number of people who can give you good advice and teach you, you have reached a stage where you can think for yourself and decide for yourself. So what should every young person do? Be disciplined.

It is easy for someone else to discipline you. But it won't be best for you because as soon as the influence of that person is not there you will go back to your old ways. True discipline has to come from you. That is called self-discipline . Next time you see yourself making a mistake remind yourself that you have discipline yourself. You need not be told by someone to be disciplined. You should tell yourself and implement it yourself. This way you will meet great success in your life.

Communication Skills.

One of the most important aspects of any successful person's life is the ability to express thoughts and ideas. Successful people have the ability to communicate. This ability is called communication skill.

Often the first person who knows how to knot  the tie will knot it well but will to express it well when asked to explain it to the second student.

Lack of proper communication is the root cause for many problems in our society and people are realizing this more and more. Today people are no longer satisfied with a cozy job and a regular salary, people want more and most importantly people want to give back something.

The ability to communicate is crucial for success. Rules of living today have changed and one of the important life lesson any young person should learn is that communicating with people is absolutely essential and communicating well would mean success in life. If you have the ability to solve complex problems and do not know how to express your intelligence, then you know where your intelligence will take you, no where. If you know how to design and develop new technologies but do not know how to market them, your inventories will never move. If you want your Dad to agree to your new hobbies and interest but you do not know how to convince him then you may never get to pursue your hobbies. If you want your parents to spend time with you and understand you but do not know how to put it across then it is your life that suffers.

If you know how to communicate, you'd be much better off.

In your life how many times do you feel the strong urge to succeed and do something with your life that brings immense pleasure and happiness to you? How many times do you dream in daylight about your success, about how people would flock around you bestowing all their attention on you and gather in huge crowds to hear you and get better after they've heard you? If you are dreaming of such things in life, learn to communicate well.

If there is any skill that can get you out of any difficult condition in your life then this is the skill. The communication skill. Learn it now and you will enjoy its benefits throughout your life.

Creativity.

Let's learn creativity:

Most people do not have a simple, clear and a complete definition for creativity. The reason is that many people have become too creative in defining 'creativity'. Creativity simply means to create something new. So remember that if you can create something new out of what you have then you are a creative person.

Waiting for creativity:

Man owes his progress to creativity. Right from the beginning of mankind we have progressed because we did not stop thinking in new ways. Today we are progressing at great speed in all spheres of life because we are thinking anew at every step of our life. Creativity is in our very nature. But most of us do not choose to be creative in our lives. The young people are extremely creative but the challenge in front of you today is to nurture these creative abilities and improve it to serve a good purpose in your life and lives of many others. Most people wait for creativity to happen in their lives. Meaning - they do not deliberately try to be creative but they wait for it. Every person should, especially young people, realize that creativity can be learnt with practice.

Why do people lie?

Fear. This is the single most important reason for all lying. Right from students lying about homework to president of any country lying to cover his inappropriate behaviors. Everyone lies for the same reason - FEAR. There is another corresponding reason too and that is GREED. When people lie, the truth is hidden and some people lie so that they benefit from the fact that truth is hidden. There are lot of people who deal in financial markets and businesses who do not blink an eye before lying because they will get a lot of money if they do. But the sad fact is that people lie even if they get very small benefits.

Movies stars are bad role models.

Movies stars are being looked at these days by young  people as role models. They make very poor role models. Good looks and glamour charm the young people and there is nothing wrong in that. But it is wrong if you build your life around what movies stars do and don't do.

Most movie stars evade taxes and lead a life of indiscipline. One look at today's movies and the popular actors and actresses, with an exception of very few, we realize how purposeless their lives are and how hypocritical they are. Would you like to follow such people?

Movie-makers and actors and actresses live in a make-believe world. And seldom you will be able to find the truth about them. Amidst all this we have the media who uses famous people to their own advantage. So a largely values less system of media and a morally decaying section of the society can never make good role models.

This not to say that all actors and movie-makers are bad and all the media people are valueless. There are good people even in their midst. But the bad is prevalent more in number. Hence young people should exercise their choices carefully and after due thought.

TV, magazines and Newspapers

TV is sometimes referred to as idiot box. And with good reason. Because all kinds of trash is shown on it. Just like there are good movies and bad movies. There are good programs and bad programs. Bad programs have a bad influence on you, so you should simply turn them off. Bad does not just mean those who are excessively violent and vulgar, bad also means those which are meaningless and which insults your intelligence. Similarly with books and magazines. There are number of magazines that can mislead you into wrong things. You might find them interesting for the time being. But if you fall into the trap then it will have a harmful effect in your life. Sometimes you will not ever recover from those effects. There are newspapers who put incidents pictures in their front pages because it makes news. Some princess is bathing nude so they put the snap of hers on the front page, without any discretion and responsibility.


Many people in the name of art, fool the public and dish out mediocre works. Films, TV programs, magazines and newspapers from the most important media available to any young person. These are popular in our country to the extent that people who run these institutions are worship and revered throughout the country. But a majority of these institutions are run by mediocre people with only one intention of making money over others. When you come across a program or an article or a film or a news item that insults your intelligence then you should choose not to see it or read it or be influenced by it. You cannot stop people from being mediocre and inefficient and also from being unethical. But what you can do is to stop subscribing to such people. You can stop seeing stupid films, which make no sense at all. You can stop watching films and programs that glorify bad things and projects as good. You can stop reading newspapers that doctor the news for their selfish ends. You can stop buying useless magazines. The choice is always yours.

So whether you will lead a good life, full of good health, happiness and success or whether you will lead a life of ill-health, disease and sickness depends a great deal on your media habit too. If you do not want to be addicted to harmful things and if you do not want to waste yourself over meaningless media then you should make a choice today. 

Should you not try to look good?

There is nothing wrong in wanting to look beautiful or handsome. You should by all means exercise regularly, take good care of yourself and groom yourself to be healthy and fresh. But you should not derive your definition of beauty from selfish campaigns of others. Fashion world has made enough damage to the minds of the innocent through advertisements which lure people to buy certain products which are not necessary. They manipulate the innocence of young minds and spoil them with desires that are detrimental to growth. Young people should realize that there is a lot of hypocrisy in many fashion ads. Many people are unaware that most people, who act in cosmetics ads, or clothes ads, do not use the same products they advertise. They do it only for the sake of advertisements and in their real life they do something else.

Become Prosperous.

Each one of you should be determined to create a lot of wealth for yourself. What happens when you do that? You will have a hassle-free life. You can enjoy all the material benefits  that technology advancements of man can bring. When you create this wealth, your father and mother, brothers and sisters would be happy and they would enjoy the wealth and success too. And if others do what you do then the good things that happen will multiply. This is how we become stronger. So each one of you should aim to become successful and prosperous.

Sharing the Responsibility - Social Consciousness.

Young people of today are the leaders of tomorrow. So it is all the more important that we all understand how each one of us share the responsibility of building a good society. Who builds all the bad roads, or inefficient institutions or corrupt offices, substandard products, polluted chemicals.. .it is us. Someone from our own society. Similarly, malnutrition, illiteracy, unemployment, poor health facilities... . are all a result of our own actions. Actions of generations of people - our people. So we all share the responsibility for whatever happens around us and whatever happens around us has an effect on our personal and family lives. What happens in our personal lives has an effect on the society.

Let your success be shared.

Each one of you will someday become successful. When you become successful share your success with others. Do not suspect people that they would take away your success. If you build somethings of your own, no one can take it away from you.

To win, you don't have to defeat anyone.

If only you want to fight, fight poverty, illiteracy, mediocrity, inefficiency and complacency. Fight the social evils and forces that cause illness, fight everything that goes against humanity but do not fight with people.

Nobody wins when you defeat another human being and you can win over all the people to your side without having to defeat them. You can win all on your own and share your victory with everyone.

Mistakes that most youth do - which you should not do.

Young people are very powerful in their outlook. Each one of you is a bundle of power who can accomplish great things in life. But then why is that many young people do not grow up to become great? There are some common mistakes that youth do. Make sure that you & me do not do them. If you & me want to have a strong sense of purpose in life and if you want to be somebody in your life and not just live like another person, then you should stay clear of certain common mistakes that young people do.

Dreams make your destiny

When we ask the question - What should I do with my life? What should the purpose of my life be? We should look into ourselves and give our dreams and deepest desires an expression. Each one of you should pursue a dream life - despite difficulty. Life will be wonderful and filled with lot of happiness if you follow your dream.

Learn to speak well.

In order to speak well, one needs clarity in thought and purpose. If you are a confused person, your expressions would also be confusing. In order to develop good speaking skill one needs thoughts and knowledge. If you do not possess knowledge and thoughts then likely chances are you will speak aimlessly.

Good speaking is nothing but reproducing whatever thoughts or knowledge you possess in your mind through words in a brief yet complete manner. A good practice could be to try and reproduce the knowledge you acquired from a lesson that you've recently learnt or reproduce the knowledge from a conversation that you have heard. In the process you can make improvements from the earlier instance by adding deleting or modifying information. Choosing to speak as often as you can and constantly and consciously trying to put in words all that you know is the only way to learn to speak better.

Act - don't react. Choose your actions

You are a human being with an unlimited number of choices. Choose what you want. Develop an awareness of yourself. Understand what you are and you will  find that you are a bundle of infinite energy. You can do whatever you want if you choose to apply your mind to it. Never blame others for what you are. You are a person who choose what you are. You should not blame others for your behaviors. This an excuse weak people give. Be responsible for what happens in your life. You can make tremendous advancement if you are determined and if you do not blame others. People who choose their actions do not blame others. People who react to others are like those who do not have a mind of their own. They are controlled by others' actions. So they blame others.

Special Gifts for Humans.

Nature has been very kind to us and bestowed on us special gifts which, no other living being has. These special gifts are called endowments. Our ability to think and respond to our life situations is the greatest ability that nature gives us. Right now you can think of whatever you want, imagine whatever you want and visualize it in your mind. Apart from this ability to comprehend we have one more gift - that is gift of choice. Each one of you can make a choice. If you are right now given a bicycle as well as mobike and asked to choose any one between them then you will exercise your choice according to what you want. But if you call your pet dog and give it a choice of two different dog collars it will not be able to choose. The difference between us and animals is that we can make choices and choose what we want.

Loving yourself does not mean you should dislike others.

You should love yourself so that you can love others. If you dislike others and love only yourself then you are going to grow up into a very selfish person who never amounts to any good for the society. Just the same way as you are beautiful, every person in the world is beautiful. So respect and treat everyone with the same love with which you treat yourself. Only a person who dislikes himself disrespect others. A person who has a high self-esteem will never disrespect others but treats them with love, kindness and care.

So love yourself and love others - because you deserve to give and receive love.

YOU AND THEM.

You will fearlessly look them in the eye.
They will have to face you on an equal footing.
You will pick the side you believe in.
They will have to stop straddling the fence.
You will raise the questions.
They will have no choice but to answer every one of them.
You will speak your mind.
They will not have the option of turning a deaf ear.
You will challenge their decisions.
They will not be able to ignore your opinions.
You will demand to know where they are leading you.
And they will not refuse to follow when you show them the path towards a better nation.

A Thought for Today

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.
                                                  ISAAC ASIMOV
                                                                                                                                                       -TOI