By Mukonyezi Steven Kahiigwa
The world has been looking at staying in power for long, inadequate funding of youths projects, limited opportunities on the job market and many other facts or misapprehensions as the major causes of failure of youths to sustain themselves and also prosper. Many people have been made to believe that affluence is only for the chosen few. Blames are always on the government for not either doing enough or nothing to solve the problems of these young people. Have we forgotten that the youths themselves have a hand in being penniless? There are very many blockages to the prosperity of the young people, but I believe that there should not be blame games. Collective efforts to development are key.
Because of the changing world in which we are living, people have found themselves having to adjust to changing costs of living both in rural and urban areas. Of course, there are many factors as to why the cost of living rises and falls. We should actually not be looking at blaming each other for all the happenings, but we should carefully find ways of adjusting to the new standards.
A case in point of lifestyle affecting the prosperity of the young people is too much freedom to do whatever they want. This affects their activeness in productive engagements. Young people always choose things which bring excitement to them rather than things which can make them busy productively. A young person would rather spend a lot of time playing play station games, going to music concerts or watching movies than reading a book about how to start small and grow big. This is so common. Like the bible says,’’….an idle mind is a devil’s workshop,’’ they find themselves making wrong choices which ruin their lives. It is paramount to note that being unproductive or idle can lead to crime hence imprisonment.
Politics, most especially activism has cost many young people a bright future. Just because of excitement or even need for blogs and likes on social media, they have found themselves in prison. They have made some mistakes by crossing redlines stipulated by security agencies and have ended up being incarcerated.
We should not blame young people for the situations through which they go, but we should help them utilize their potentials to take steps in life. Imagine a young man who has no job but has a sister or brother abroad who sends him money. After receiving $1200, he chooses to buy an iPhone because it is a high-class phone. He from that day remains with little or nothing on the account just because of the iPhone. This is one of the bad choices a young person can make. There is a lot $1200 can do for steady development and sustainable income.
There are a lot of mistakes young people make, but parents should play the biggest roles in shaping the young peoples’ futures to block future dependence syndrome and also having a lot of expectations from government funding. The government can supplement on what is already in existence if a good plan is made and a good proposal is drafted.
There is need for young people to change their lifestyle such that their lives can be better. There is no sense in leaving the village where there is a lot of land for farming and going to cities to work in bars or being dancers on music shows. Utilizing land to the maximum is more productive than a once in a while music show where some little money is earned. The cost of living also being high, that little is spent.
Young people need to realize how much being in urban centers is more expensive and costly to their lives than living cheaply but productively in rural areas. Lifestyle should not cost our youth their bright futures.
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