I find that one of the greatest conundrums that an educator faces is to how to reconcile the joyous and boisterous faces that you see on your students in a high school classroom with the desultory and seemingly embittered twenty-something-year-olds that sit on their scooters at a stop light or stand listlessly scrolling on their cell phones virtually everywhere else. The reason, “in a nutshell”: unrequited angst. They have not been given the tools to deal with an increasingly complex “universe” — their universe. When I have been told all my life that these are the rules of “the game of life” and I work diligently and play the contest well and now this; I am allowed to be shocked and resentful, am I not? To stumble into a job interview that goes positively, only to receive a trifling bit of money and a laconic and nasty boss is, to say the last, earth-shattering. The look on their faces has already been painted by Van Gogh (1853-1890) in the Potato Eaters. (1)
Where do we go from here, is a more important question? As I have quoted before: “Where am I standing?” “You are standing right in front of me.” Of course, Sadhguru (2) would say that is not the answer. In reality, I am standing inside of you. You have taken my image, through your optic nerves, into your own consciousness. There, your history and life experiences evaluate me. Whether you see me as fat or thin, tall or short, intelligent or stupid, is of your own creation — your own construction. The problem is that you see yourself in the same way. You have been not be given the tools to evaluate you as an entity, so to speak, functioning in the world. You are left to feel, upon graduation from university, like a leaf in a raging river: beautiful and resplendent, but with absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever. Many young people, I believe, are left to feel that this experience is unique to this generation. It is not: youth has been in a state of trepidation since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution (3) if not before.
From the New York Times: great fun!
Advice; Teen Angst? Nah!
So, you’ve turned 13, and suddenly you feel as if you’re in Death Valley. You come home from school and Oprah is on, talking about America’s Youth in Crisis; your parents assail you after dinner with antidrug literature, asking what you’ve been experimenting with lately; and from every corner — school, home, church — you’re being told: ”Be careful! These are four of the most important years of your life!”
Well, relax. I’ve been there, and let me tell you: your teen years aren’t that important at all. The important years come when you want them to. Ray Kroc was a two-bit, middle-aged, milkshake-machine salesman when he founded a little company called McDonald’s. His most important years started right there.
As for me, I’m a junior at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. Although I’m still in the thick of my teenage years, I think I’ve learned a thing or two by now. And as far as I can tell, being a teenager is just like being a kid, except that you’ve got five extra niggling concerns: sex, money, smoking, drinking and getting into college. …
The media present adolescence as hell on earth, chock full of evil cliques (the cliques in grade school are worse), domineering parents and wrenching decisions that will determine the rest of your life. Nah! Adolescence is a time to sit back, make some friends — and maybe discover what you’re good at. Don’t believe the hype. (4)
The secret, however, is to learn a set of skills to minimize the frustration. We need to assist our young charges in the realization that you can only find your “true calling” through effort and intensity. Firstly, in high school one must have a list of “My Gifts” — what I am good at and what I am bad at. For example: I am very good at talking, but I am extremely shy. I realized when I was fifteen that if I ever wanted to speak publically, it would be necessary to control this phenomenon. Then, upon graduation from university, you will be presented with three or four choices. You must then choose one, even if it subsequently proves to be the wrong choice, and act: Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule. (5) It is only through concerted and long-term effort will you find your “true calling.” The great artist and innovator, Vincent Van Gogh () leaves us with a thought: Your profession is not what brings home your weekly paycheck, your profession is what you’re put here on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling.
A closing thought: I find that the greatest frustration each of us experiences is the knowledge that “I” exist. I am not 100% sure if you do, but I know that I do. We are then left to reconcile this realization with the day-to-day occurrences of life. Many people, I suspect, do not know that they are truly alive. They go through the motions of life — its burps and blusters – but they have no real feeling for its God-given gift: a cadeau that is given, but once, in this reality. If anything, proportionately, more young people know that they have consciousness today than they did in previous generations. This is due to social media and good nutrition. In the end, if we keep pushing and encouraging, this generation will take its place as influential and earth-changing in world history. (6)
To sum up: This week, we spoke about the angst of youth and how we can help alleviate some of its frustrations. If we keep pushing and hoping, in the end, it will all work out. The critical thing is to savor its bouquet as we are transiting through it.
A Star Without a Name
When a baby is taken from the wet nurse,
it easily forgets her
and starts eating solid food.
Seeds feed awhile on ground,
then lift up into the sun.
So you should taste the filtered light
and work your way toward wisdom
with no personal covering.
That’s how you came here, like a star
without a name. Move across the night sky
with those anonymous lights. (7)
A philosophical question: Why when you don’t deserve it, do you sometimes have extraordinary good luck? Yesterday, I lost my bag while I was driving my motocha. In it were certain irreplaceable items. “In a mad panic,” I retraced my route. Twenty minutes into my journey, I discovered my bag on the side of the road: why? Today I intend to buy a lottery ticket!
Just for fun – One OK Rock
This week, in your quiet time, please realize the gift that you have been given: your life!
Every day look for something magical and beautiful
Quote: Sometimes saying thank you to the universe is important and necessary.
Footnotes:
1) Starry Night Analysis | What makes van Gogh unique?
2) Sadhguru
5) Malcolm Gladwell on the 10,000 hour RuleÂ
6) March For Our Lives: Huge gun-control rallies sweep US
7) Rumi