Youth Voices

As I close my eyes and drift away to a land where there is love, health, peace, and blessings. I wanted to take the time to think and reflect.

     My mind wondered as I began to think about the voices of youth, the student voice, and the impact that it can have. Youth voice does have an impact, because we get to hear what kind of a future they imagine, topics, and issues that concern them. In a sense leaders of today gain access to a bridge to the future with the voices of the youth. There are positives , but what happens when the youth voices are put in the spotlight? What happened when the youth voices gain public attention? The voices become subjected to the public space. Sometimes this is positive, but the pubic space is an opinionated space, where it will also be subjected to scrutiny, and of course will impact the youth voices. We have to always remember that even this metaphoric bridge of the student voice is of value, we must also ensure that these voices are protected, even when in the public domain. When all is said and done, these are the voices of minors; children who are still in need of guardians. 

   These thoughts remind me of the Biblical and Quranic texts, where there are verses that describe where the prophets used to climb high in the mountains, or go into caves (The Cave, Surah Kafh- 18:10) to seek refuge, peace, or be at a point of oneness with God. Sometimes they would go away for a while, and return when they felt ready to do so. In the same sense, present and future generations need a sheltered, protected space where they can explore who they are, learn, grow, develop, nurture the self and so on. So that when they are in the public domain they are able to speak up, defend and protect themselves.

So what am I saying?

     A future needs time and space to build themselves, and each other. Whilst in today's society, especially in the urban areas,  we can't escape and go away for years to live in the mountains, or casually walk into caves, we have to find ways to build this self-nurturance and to also how we travel and negotiate the private and public spaces. The negotiation of these spaces, allows for us to think about building the self internally, and externally through the schools we attend, organizations that we join, and the interactions that we have with others.

     Whilst we maneuver from public / private, private / public, leaders have to strike a balance with the use of student voice. Leadership must be careful that the voices of youth are not exploited so that opportunities for them become limited, reduced, or in some cases even pose a risk to their lives. Youth voices should not be subjected to public scrutiny so much so that they, cease to walk in between the public and private domains.   

Dedication: These thoughts are dedicated to the voices of youth, and to the Humboldt Broncos Hockey Community where lives were lost and injuries sustained. Thank you for the courage that you have shown to follow your dreams. United Through Sport. We send our love, prayer and condolences to the families, the Hockey and Humbolt Broncos community.

My thoughts to share with love & kindness.

Notes: These thoughts were originally hand-written on April 7th, 2018.
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