I was switching channels to find something to watch till 9 pm
post which I try to catch the drama Blue Bloods, but while browsing I landed on
CNN, telecasting live a session of UK Lawmakers hearing the plea of 3 families
of girls who went missing on 17th February from UK. The girls are 15
years old, and travelled to Turkey without the knowledge of their families or
schools, and are now believed to have crossed over to Syria to join the
extremists.
I just thought it was just a small piece of news, but, it
was the complete hearing being telecast. Blue Bloods seemed to lame to watch in
front of this news.
What came out of watching this entire telecast was a
horrific feeling of how the internet / social media sites are affecting the
minds of young people. How families have become so disconnected that even after
living under one roof they have no clue about what their children are thinking
or doing? What kind of training or work is going into building teachers /
mentors / guides who can brain-wash 15 YEAR OLD children, especially girls to
take such drastic measures. We are not talking about running away to another
city in your state or country, but going across Europe and then moving from a
secure family, city and country to a volatile, war-inflicted zone.
Of course, this hearing, had the families tell their story
who blame the UK Metropolitan police to have been slow with their investigation…
the police saying they worked within the means of their set norms and methods
of handling such situations… the school was not brought in but it was said that
the schools have mechanisms today deal with these situations… and it went on…
with the lawmakers questioning what could have been done to avoid the situation
and what SHOULD be done in the future to really not have this happening…
All this debate and conversation made me think -
This is how impressionable the young mind is, and that is
why we all need to question if today just by sending our children to school
where they learn various subjects and get grades, by providing them the latest
of gadgets in terms of computers, mobile phones and others and being their
friend more than a parent, are we really getting to know what our children
want?
Someone may argue with me that this has happened in the UK,
so why is it bothering me I live in back and beyond India? All I have to say is
this – these are children… and the stories of children globally don’t change
much… as dependants most children go through similar experiences everywhere.
We need to change the way we think or interact with young
minds…we have always known young adults (13 -17 years) are very emotional,
vulnerable and rebellious if they want to be, this is the time when they are
going through immense changes physically and mentally… we need to be more alert
about them and really build much deeper bonds as parents, teachers, friends,
educators, guides and mentors.
In my own years of experience working with teenagers, I have
observed that it takes much more to get them to trust you than it would with a
child in the primary school age or younger.
We must protect our children but not over protect them also
that they don’t learn how to face adversities or challenges. Today information
is available at the touch of a button what we need is the sense of knowledge
which will enable an individual to observe, analyse, question, look for
options, and make the choices so as to act responsibly and with ownership.
Somehow, I wish we can work on an education system where
instead of the main subjects being Science, Maths, Social Studies and
Languages, we actually create spaces to grow in subjects like Responsibility,
Ownership, Appreciation and Perspectives, because perspectives drive an
individual to make choices, making individual choices creates a sense of
ownership, the ownership inculcates a sense of responsibility to face the
consequences of the choices (good/bad, right/wrong), and it’s the consequences
of our choices that create a sense of appreciation or self-critic which
motivate an individual to carry on in the path chosen, or make the changes
required, without getting into the web of blame-games, accusations or passing
the buck to another.
Be it UK, US, India or any other country… we have to realise
the world is becoming smaller and smaller because of the reach of this bane or
boon called the Internet… so we have to start thinking and training ourselves
in perspectives which will give a more wholistic attitude or method on looking
and perceiving situations, more importantly create open spaces for an
individual to feel safe and free to make choices more responsibly and
consciously.
It makes me sick in my stomach to think how vulnerable or
impressionable or deprived were those 3 girls that at 15 YEARS they could take
such a life-threatening decision without any fear(or they were scared but had
no choice)… and probably it is this vulnerability or naivety in an individual
that makes him / her a victim of social evils.
Today, it is not only the question of “India’s Daughters”
but the “World’s Children”.
It’s A Small World…A Simple World… all we need is a clear
perspective.
