Our young people aren't as choosy...

Most, if not all of us have been there, done that, dreamt, hoped, craved and occasionally wondered if the God abroad was more generous than the God ayard. But as soon as some of us travel or hit the big time, rather than being inspirations to many, we get all brusque, tweaking and embellishing our stories as if never-erred geniuses from birth, whilst trivialising the struggles of young people ayard.

By this, we confine them to despair, cause them to under-appreciate where they are, undervalue what they have at their disposal, and underrate what they can do with what they have at the moment. Eventually, in their heads, they create a situation in which no progress seem possible ayard.

I'm not denying the fact that you cannot climb the ladder of success with your hands in your pockets. But the way some of act as if to make it big, you gotta be that ultra-human, probably first in class from grade one to college type of person is a lie.

If success was the ultimate result of willingness to do difficult tasks, some people and projects get supported in this country will never make it beyond auditioning for Fools Got Talent, and some unconnected folks who our entrepreneurship openings don’t reach would’ve been tycoons.

A wise man once said that everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. Any fish, given the necessary appendage will take to the air. I’m quoting this as it relates to the often generalised youth-bashing I see on here. It annoys me, because I know better.

I find it incorrect when some of us associate this bread emergency to our youth feeling suited to desk jobs only. To me, the reason for that is because our education system lacks variety, because there’s very little regard for vocational and technical work.

I’m not gonna pretend to have done any employment survey or read any skills gap analysis report to authenticate my take. But, for what it’s worth, I can confirm that unlike prejudices held by some of us who’ve lost touch with realities on the ground, things have become so stiff ayard that our youth no longer have the luxury to be choosy as far as work is concerned.

It goes without saying that everywhere you go, even in mighty America, there are the lazy ones who feel too good to labour for their living. But, generally speaking, the number of young Gambians I see doing jobs that used to be alien-dominated, including owning bakeries, just like young ladies doing formerly male-dominated jobs deserve notice.

However, Napoleon believes that ability is nothing without opportunity. So they can only do as far as the opportunities presented permit.  And I am not saying that so young people can be too uncritically satisfied with the status quo. Rather, I want those saddled to create such opportunities to up their responsibility. May the good Lord lighten our individual burdens and better our conditions.