“It is so pleasant to be outdoors and explore the wilderness. To see butterflies, dragonflies, birds, ants, spiders and insects. Nature is the best example of how animals and trees live in perfect harmony and balance. We can foster harmony with nature by observing how animals live, share and use everything in nature in a judicious way.”
“We are of the opinion that if someone we know or care for, has been suddenly bad to us, we should react with kindness. Today we have progressed, are better educated and have better opportunities. Why then should we fight and live in strife?”
“Today we have become slaves of social media. Some of us realised that we are using our phones for nearly 10 to12 hours daily. Some are addicted to gaming while others to vacuous videos. The likes on Insta, Twitter and Facebook have become our daily dose of dopamine. The virtual world and its dark web is actually a trap for all of us as we succumb to fake news, false friends and misleading Whatsapp forwards. Social media is more often than not, dividing us based on our faiths and social status. We don’t like this.”
“We feel empowered as we have better understood the societal challenges like common vices, vaping, smoking, drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, human trafficking, gambling, stealing, etc that youth face today. We feel confident that we can lead in creating awareness about these issues and help youth that are trapped early.”
“I feel a sense of purpose as a youth leader. There is so much to be done as more and more youth get trapped in the rat race of consumerism, brand consciousness, pressure to earn more and not being self-reliant.”
“We realised that every group that we become a part of, be it in college or our community, we will always find many common threads that can help to bind us together in friendship. Nature, music, language, community, land, region, hobbies, interests. And it is these that we need to focus on. This means that we can always find goodness in every human we meet. And that is enough. It is of no meaning if we choose the path of division or segregation.”
“War should never be an option. Killing is not being human. And like Gandhiji said, an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind. So why fight?”
“For the first time I am attending a youth event where diversity is celebrated. It is so nice to meet other youth from different religious practices and beliefs.”
The participants of the recently held Yuva Sadbhav at Pilar were from different colleges in Goa. One student was so happy that she had managed to attend on the invitation of an acquaintance of another faith. “I feel so happy to have come here, made so many new friends. It does not matter if you are Muslim, Catholic, Hindu, Sikh or Parsi. In fact I had prejudices of people of other faiths. Now my impression has completely changed. When we communicate and connect, we learn more and that is a power that unites us together in a community. There are big problems in the world today. It is ridiculous that we find people quarrelling over minor issues and misunderstandings.”
The sessions conducted by the resource persons and experts were relevant and eye openers to all the participants.
Dr Fr Elvis Fernandes, in his keynote address lay focus on the importance of dialogue and the different threads that weave across the boundaries of division and disparity. He also explained how debate, argument, one way conversation and lecturing are not components of a dialogue. And it is only by listening, sharing, being empathetic that true communication can unfold a dialogue to bring calm, peace and harmony in any society.
Sangeeta Naik spoke so passionately about her childhood and unforgettable memories of life in the village and how the internet was used when it first wired our lives. “Today communication is only getting faster and in the old days we had to struggle to download a single file and we had to dial in for the internet connection.” She drew comparisons between the dopamine high from likes on social media and simple pleasures like meeting, engaging in a group and how Insta, Twitter, Facebook is disrupting our lives. She warned of the perils of being vocal on Twitter and getting trolled. She shared her own experiences of fearlessness and using social media to connect rather than divide.
Elaine Coelho, who was a student participant last year, gave a youth perspective to building harmony. Her exercise of free movement and group sessions to identify aspects of common interest and unifying elements helped the youth groups to connect with each other better and helped them realise the benefits of unity and living in harmony.
Asim Sheik’s presentation and visuals were a revelation to most. Youth problems, drug abuse is rampant. It is critical to be aware. Did you know about the zombie drug, an injectable that uses a horse sedative, is causing a health crisis in the US? Are you aware of prostitution by young college girls in Goa? These and many more questions raised and explained during the session, left the participants feeling the need to lead in awareness campaigns, setting up fora for youth and even reaching out to the affected in a more personal way.
There is so much to be done. Let’s make way for our youth to lead, take responsibility and pave the path of healing, uniting us in these terrible times of human suffering, war and environmental degradation.
(Tallulah D’Silva is an architect and silver awardee of the Golden Door Award 2020)
