THE CHALLENGE TO THE FILIPINO YOUTH

New cellphone units and latest gadgets.Facebook accounts. Vampire novels and movies. Youtube. 'Gimik' hotspots. Sarah Geronimo. Red Horse.

What I mentioned above are but just a few of the things that today's Filipino youth are busying themselves with. The exceptions are rare if there are any.

Many agree that the 2010 elections are one of the most significant political exercise for our nation. The results would determine what path this beloved country of ours will take in the next century. Nearly 80 percent of the registered voters are the youth of which many are first- time voters.

Now that the political camps are already at the height of campaign preparations,where are their agendas for the youth? More importantly, where is the youth power or youth vote? Is there such an animal? Is it significant to initiate a change? Or are they just imagined to project that the young sector is for this or that candidate?

When I was in college, as a student leader we where having problems getting the support and cooperation of our student constituency in our battle against tuition increases. Students were apathetic then and only a few where brave enough to join us for fear of reprisals.

I fear that such apathy is prevalent now. For the young people who have access to the latest technology, they are more interested in knowing the latest buzz on the internet. On the far end of the scale are the youth in lowest rungs of socio-economic ladder, whose interest is to eke out a daily leaving legally or otherwise.

Gone are days when the young answers the call to initiate change, radical as it may seem. Those where the days when idealism was up high in the virtue meter. Now, the young simply drown their frustrations on their country with a cold 1- liter of the dark red- colored bottle with matching 'fried highland legumes'. Or search for greener pastures far away.

I don't want to quote the much- abused national hero on calling on the youth as it often fell on deaf- ears. The call, rather is "Where are the youth?"

The time to merely state what's wrong, what should be done about it, the ideal is up. Stop the lip- service and useless talk.The time to act is now in our hands. That is the challenge of the Filipino youth is to make themselves significant and take the reins to steer this country to a path it deserves. Because the youth will inherit this nation when the present fades away into nothingness. Let us rise up to the challenge of the times.