Set A Higher Standard for Yourselves

How old are you now?

15? 18? 20? 25?

May I ask you; what are your parents doing when they were your age?

I can hear a few responses. But despite me not knowing you, I can still tell what your parents were not doing at that age.

They didn't start their day checking social medias.
They didn't spend their free time browsing memes.
They didn't try to download as much movies as they can.
They didn't have a favourite YouTube channel.
They didn't get any Snaps.
They didn't go through the time where a simple hi can go into someone's phone in just seconds. Instead, they either call or send letters.

In a sense, despite the various conditions around the globe, I can say that youths in this time generally have a better life condition then their parents, and generally their ancestors.

Do you agree with me?
I mean, with the advancements of technology in communication & transportation, with both parents working to support us financially, with higher education levels are being put as standards,
can you not agree with me?

But ironically, the quality of today's youths are lower, compared to the time where our parents & grandparents were youths.
They have stronger resilience, they work harder, they are more patient, and they utilize their time accordingly.

What about us?
We have high-speed Internet, but we use it only to watch cat videos.
We go to educational institutions, with very little intention of learning itself.
We have many spare times, but we waste it on movies & sleeping.

I'm not saying that cat videos, movies & sleeping is wrong.
I'm saying that if 70% of our youths are spending 70% of their time doing these things,
there is something wrong.

I believe I'm not the only one who notices this. It's understandable that the generation of our parents & grandparents is the one  who this first. And they blame the technology and the easy times that we have for it.
Well, at least they don't blame us. (Or do they?)

So, are they right? Are those technologies & easy times the ones to blame? Should youths dump all of those and relive the hardship of their ancestors?

That doesn't sound right.
And we can see this is illogical from the simplest example.

Let's say you want to go from Point A to Point B. You can choose whether to walk or drive. Both cost nothing. Of course you will choose to drive, because it's easier. And you cannot be deemed as being 'lazy' because you choose to drive.
You choose to drive because it's more efficient. Simply because it's... easier!
Do you actually need more explanation on this?

But again, we cannot deny that,
Hard times make good men.
Good men make easy times.
Easy times make weak men.
Weak men make hard times.

And the cycle continues...
This cycle won't go away. In fact, all of human civilizations that you know, are built based on this cycle.

So what? Are we as weak youths are deemed to destruction now?

Chill. This doesn't mean our youths are doomed... if we don't do something.

"What should we do then?"

Set a higher standard.
Introduce higher milestones & expectations for our youths.

This is reasonable when you think about it.
Just like how our ancestors put enormous effort to make our lives better, we should do the same, for ourselves & our future generations.
I mean, forget about the future, in the mean time, there are a lot of lives to help, to make them better.

Get our youths excited to pursue these milestones & expectations with what will come in the future.
Scare them with what will happen if they don't preserve & improve the current situation.

Let me give you an example.

Sultan Al-Fateh is the one who conquers Constantinople, now known as Istanbul.
He was a member of the royalty, who had been trained physically, mentally, & psychologically to conquer Constantinople, from a very young age.

I believe that if he was not a member of royalty, or if he was not trained rigorously, he would never be able to conquer Constantinople.
If he only trained without the privilege of being a royalty, at most, he may only be able to be one of the soldiers that conquered Constantinople.
If he as a prince did not train to conquer Constantinople, then Constantinople would never been conquered by him.

He had that privilege of being a prince & a king.
And he trained hard, with the unrealistic vision (at that time) of conquering Constantinople.
He did it anyway.

Can you see what I'm trying to say here?

It is a blessing that we live in such a good age. But what matters most is, how are we going to use this good age?

Don't blame the good times. Instead, set a higher standard for ourselves, so we will always push ourselves to become as great as our ancestors, with the benefit of helping current & future generations.

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