Footnote to Youth Reaction Paper Essay

â€Å"The youth is the hope of motherland.† It has always been said that we, the youth, is the hope of our country. This has been the mentality of almost everybody in the society. I, myself had this mentality strongly rooted in my mind before I had read the story, â€Å"Footnote to Youth.† Yes, the youth could possibly be the hope of our country or even of the world. As many have said, we are creative, dynamic, good thinkers, marvelous doers and a lot more. All these positive things also have corresponding negative thoughts from those who don’t believe in our capacity. They say we are lazy, dependent, coward, apathetic and a lot more. I think it is neither laziness nor dependence that drives us youth into somebody useless in the society. We never wanted to become just a piece of crap of course. We always have wanted to do something extraordinary not just for ourselves’ sake. We have always wanted to be something the older and younger generation would be proud of. For me, the dilemma is not within us. It is on how our parents and the people around us treat us and affects us. I admit our minds are not as weak as the minds of the little children. We cannot be easily manipulated. But we’re not also as fixed-minded as the older people. We need guidance. How can we be the hope of the country if our parents themselves don’t lead us to the right path? How can we be the hope if our parents themselves don’t believe that there is real hope from within us? How can we be the hope if our parents themselves cannot correct the mistakes we do? Just like Dodong and Blas, we are preoccupied of the thinking that we can do everything we want to; that we are ready to do the things that the older people can; that what we think is always right. Yes we can do everything if we really insist to but without the guidance of our parents or the older people who know better, we will never know if we are making the right steps toward the right road. They hold the key that runs the engine of hope within the youth. I still believe that we, the youth, is the hope of the motherland but this will just come to reality if the older generatio n, especially our parents know how to bring out the best in us. -Jogie Rodriguez Torres, BST- IV June 25, 2013