The Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1969, Youth’s Contribution To The Community

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31941, 19 March 1969, Page 12

The Press WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 1969, Youth’s Contribution To The Community

In his address to the National Youth Council the Governor-General advocated action to encourage young persons to play a larger part in conserving the resources of the community. Since the youth of a country is itself the most vital of the resources on which the community’s future welfare rests, his second proposal—that more young adults should be encouraged to lead youth organisations—was a logical extension of his main theme. Conscious, perhaps, of the risks implicit in an older person’s giving advice to the young, Sir Arthur Porritt offered no specific proposals for bridging the “ generation gap he was content to sow the seed of an idea and to leave it to others, preferably the young people themselves, to nurture it.

The varied reactions of members of the National Youth Council to the Governor-General’s address illustrate both the opportunities and the difficulties presented by his ideas. A well-devised award scheme might well be a challenge to youth; but unless the challenge is taken up by whole communities of young people rather than by the few who, probably, already give notable community service without thought of recognition or reward, the scheme might fail to draw the enthusiasm and effort of young people into the mainstream of the community’s activities. This will be achieved when young people, on a wide front, can identify their own feelings, their personal ambitions, and what they regard as the best goals for society with the feelings, ambitions, and goals of the rest of the community. On some issues, such as preventing accidents and conserving natural resources, there are no obvious differences of opinion between one generation and another. Some young people are more reckless than their fellows or their elders of their own safety and the safety of others. The difference may be a measure of maturity. While most people agree that it is desirable to conserve natural resources others, not exclusively young people, are inclined to destroy or deface the community’s assets. This difference may be a measure of social maturity. The larger and more complex a community becomes the more difficult is it for individuals to comprehend or accept their responsibilities as citizens. Physical and intellectual maturity may be reached at an earlier age today than in previous generations. Social maturity, an individual’s sense of identification with the community, is ever more difficult to achieve. Sir Arthur Porritt's challenge to the youth council raises questions that have not yet been answered in democratic countries. Dictatorships have solved them only by totally submerging individual interests. Sir Arthur Porritt was, of course, urging that the incentive to community activity among young people should be discovered by young people themselves, and not devised for them by older generations. Material gain apart, the greatest incentive to action is confidence that effort will achieve desired results. Many young people acquire this confidence and act upon it, often bringing benefit to the community and satisfaction to themselves. In doing so they are demonstrating their adulthood. The challenge offered by Sir Arthur Porritt is really a challenge to search for ways in which other young people can acquire this confidence in their ability to share in the shaping of a better future.