Dealing with Social Pressures A Presentation by ABBAS HUSAIN Director Teachers’ Development Centre

The 21 st century is a good time to be young… As well as a very hard time to be young.

Today the entire knowledge of the world is available at a single click… And yet there is an enormous ignorance of the basics of good decent living.

Why is this so? MODERNITY ITSELF MUST BE SEEN AS A SOURCE OF THESE TENSIONS

MODERNITY COMPLEXITY INTERCONNECTEDNESS UNCERTAINTY DESTRUCTIVE POWER IN THE HANDS OF AN INDIVIDUAL ON A LARGE SCALE

1. COMPLEXITY WE ARE PARTICIPANTS TO A LAYERED COMPLEX WORLD SOCIALLY POLITICALLY ECONOMICALLY INTERNATIONALLY ECOLOGICALLY

2.INTERCONNECTEDNESS A WIDELY CONNECTED WORLD E.G. INTERNET …A VIOLENT STIR SOMEWHERE ELSE…

3.UNCERTAINTY No more are there pockets of relative certainty The speed with which new jobs are being created for new niche markets is remarkable…

4. GREAT CAPACITY TO HARM One virus can wipe out years of data from an entire range of computers One person can influence thousands …for good and evil together…..

THESE ARE TO ME THE FOUR FEATURES OF MODERNITY And young people must do twelve things in this intense fast changing culture which is defined by Stephen Covey as “PERMANENT WHITEWATER”

The Young Person Must: 1.Adjust to a new physical sense of self 2.Adjust to new intellectual abilities 3.Adjust to increased cognitive demands at school 4.Develop expanded verbal skills

The Young Person Must: 5.Develop a personal sense of identify 6.Establish adult vocational goals 7.Establish emotional and psychological independence from his or her parents 8.Develop stable and productive peer relationships

The Young Person Must: 9.Learn to manage her or his sexuality 10.Adopt a personal value system 11.Develop increased impulse control and behavioral maturity 12.Develop a keen interest in the spiritual resources of our own traditions

You can see that is a daunting checklist for the most balanced and normal young person… What to speak of people like us?

This brings us to the confrontation of modernity with youth and I will present it as three contradictions.

Three Contradictions Competition and success Brotherly love and humility First Contradiction

Second Contradiction Stimulation of our needs Factual frustrations in satisfying them

Third Contradiction Alleged freedom of the individual All his factual limitations

The twelfth point in the checklist was awareness of spiritual traditions And I now wish to turn to our traditional response to the four points of modernity

So here are the resources on each point Islam offers a modality of thinking about each of the features of modernity Against complexity it offers a metaphysics of such marvels that mankind has yet to appreciate its breadth and depth PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS….

For interconnectedness It offers a picture of the human family and the worth and value of each human being as a creature of God with remarkable consistency walaqad karramna bani Adam…

For uncertainty It speaks of the certainty of the human experience against the drifting nature of the media images and the onslaught of novelty

And about the capacity to harm Islam makes a democratic appeal for spirituality by inviting each person to realize the spiritual quest, and then saying: Whoever saves a human life saves all mankind

A Recipe for Self-Management  Focus on sharing  Focus on language  Focus on time

FOCUS ON SHARING Young people need to understand that the most powerful influence on their lives is from other young people. So they have to take over and take charge. This is a focus on sharing.

FOCUS ON LANGUAGE The fluency of speech by which one is able to express the intention of the heart.

FOCUS ON TIME Put your time to good use, improve your skills. The decades ahead will be extremely unforgiving of people who do not have the skills.

I would like to conclude on two powerful thoughts Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change that which is in themselves ---Surah Ra’ad, 13:11

And help you one another in in righteousness and piety, but help not one another in sin and rancour Surah Maidah, 5:2

THANK YOU

ABBAS HUSAIN Director Teachers’ Development Centre 129-G Block 2 PECHS Karachi Tel: /