CLOSING ARGUMENTS
The state of the world's youth:
Expectations, reality and opportunities
Thomas Paine wrote: "If there is to be trouble, let
it be in my day, that my child may have peace."
Sadly, we are constantly bombarded by the
media with stories of disenchanted young Muslims
who have traveled to the Middle East from the U.S.
or Europe or elsewhere who have embraced
jihadism, train as terrorists and then join to fight
THOMAS J.
MACKELL, JR with the Islamic State (ISIS) against the infidels.
Many leave comfortable, loving family surroundings and potentially prosperous futures looking for dignity
in all the wrong places. Most of us find it difficult to understand
this phenomena.
To a degree, there are many who “convert” to this lifestyle
because they see no real, long-term stable economic opportunities. They have witnessed a yawning gulf between the disadvantaged and the prosperous.
They have become numb to politics and feel totally alienated.
They look at political leaders worldwide who are corrupt and
vicious in their treatment of human, worker and women's'
rights, who function purely for self-interest. Or, for those who are
not corrupt, they appear to lack the ability to right the wrongs
and move their societies in ways that will be beneficial to all.
We see the disenfranchisement in our own American youth
clearly who have not embraced terrorism, but who have dissociated themselves from politics and normal participation in civic
life.
I think that they suffer from the erosion of a national self-confidence that has resulted from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Many of their friends have returned home both physically and
psychologically maimed.
They also see the corruption and the failure of our governmental leaders to do the right things for our nation.
Our education system has deteriorated, our infrastructure, for
all intents and purposes, is near total collapse with crumbling
roads and bridges, tunnels, locks, dams, ports, airports and our
eroding electrical grid.
We need to expand high-speed internet, increase access to
clean energy, modernize our national transportation network
and create millions of jobs.
We desperately need skilled trades-people like electricians,
machinists, pipefitters, carpenters, seamen, insulators, ironworkers, longshoremen, plumbers, mechanics and laborers.
Jobs that pay good salaries and contribute to maintaining strong
family values, our homes, our businesses and our infrastructure.
We need full employment and pro-worker politics and
changed pay norms to regain the ground that has been lost by
the middle class. The free market economy that has been in
place forever has produced too many distortions.
Jobs on Wall Street are not the panacea. Today, the financial
services community is going through a humbling transformation. Not everyone can land a job with the kinds of salaries,
bonuses and perks once offered by the Street.
Boomer retirements for those born between 1946 and 1964
will soar over the next 20 years. This major metamorphosis will
put a great strain on our social safety net. We need more productive workers per retiree. Policy makers must wake up to this
reality and create the methodology to grow the necessary jobs
that will repair our deteriorating society and offer good, wholesome and well-paying jobs to our youth.
Economic opportunity is sparse, the middle-class is disappearing, parents are working themselves to death and there does
not appear to be any pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
It is no wonder why we have some young folks who have
already thrown in the towel. That is discouraging and fearful.
What does it take to push them over the edge for them not necessarily to become terrorists but to wreak havoc in other parts of
society? Destructive activities like gang membership in the
extreme, a life of petty crime and the idleness of an entire generation contribute to the erosion of a moral code. Let's not leave
them with only the ability to justify their errant behavior because
there are no alternatives.
We face a serious challenge and we must be creative and compassionate to offer guidance and education to so many youngsters who can lead productive and successful lives if given the
opportunity.
But the commitment has to be pervasive throughout society
and not just limited to the usual fortunate people and but, rather,
offer assistance to organizations that devote their energies and
resources and opportunity to provide help and guidance
through consensus.
This is a commitment that must rise up from all of us. The
youth depend on the “elders,” the experienced and the caring to
provide them with the tools and guidance to enable them to succeed.
Instead of looking to shrink down or close down government,
let government, in conjunction with private interests, embrace
this compassionate initiative to grow society for all and not for
the so-called “chosen few.” Let's give our children opportunities
that will give them the peace that they deserve. d
Thomas J. Mackell, Jr., Ed.D., is Special Advisor to the International
President International Longshoremen's Association, AFL-CIO.
www.njcopsmagazine.com
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MARCH 2015
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