Creativity and Youth: A Potential Guide

By John Paul Udom

The fact that things are changing rapidly in the world calls for serious attention. From the development in technology to the inhuman subjection of fellow men to injury, it is due for us to ask this question: how is everything going?

Our many failures to deal with social problems call for the need for new approaches and techniques. This book is an attempt to meet that need. It proposes ways of identifying, assessing, and resolving our problems. Like all scientific interpretation, these views are open to discussion, criticism, and correction. Readers will decide their merit.

This book is written for all and sundry and especially the youth. Its aim is to provide a guide for people in successful social relationships, how to make their lives meaningful, as well as help others function properly in their respective societies.
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Africa
• Release date: Aug 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781482802450

John Paul Udom

John Paul Udom is a sociologist. He comes from Nkap in Ikot Ekpene, a local government area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He certainly writes essays of contemporary issues and always makes much of his humble origins.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

The State Of Affairs In The Third World

CHAPTER 2

Dimensions Of Improper Awareness

The Impressionistic Years

Career Choices

Inequality

Unemployment

Poverty

CHAPTER 3

The Challenge Before Parents And Guardians

The Place Of The Teacher

CHAPTER 4

Clarion Call For Institutional Assistance

The Family

Religion

Education

The Economy

The Government

CHAPTER 5

Looking Beyond The Shadows

The Majority

The Minority

Inferiority Complex

The Individual

CHAPTER 6

The Future Of Our Society

CONCLUSION

Time And Reality

References

To God be the glory for his wisdom. This book is dedicated to my parents, brothers, and sisters for their perfect nourishment of this product from my formative years to this period of reckoning.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author owes a great debt of gratitude to the sponsors, advisers, and to all lovers of goodwill for their useful contributions in substance and expression.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

INTRODUCTION

Our environment is made for the ultimate benefit of all. Therefore, the available natural and human resources like crude oil, sunlight, fresh vegetation, water, land, and other mineral resources are further converted through knowledge and wisdom to finished products for the good of all.

According to Lionel Elvin,

The commonsense comment is immediate: of course there are if there were not, no human communication would be possible beyond the grunts and growls of approval and disapproval. (1977, 76)

Given this impression, the individual is at liberty to embark on any project due to his commitment and hard work.

But since many have turned against the counsel of their creator, whose counsel will they follow? That is why many people are carried away from their focal point of potential development towards self-destruction. It is obvious that we live through life. The Bible states that ‘my people perish for lack of knowledge’. It might interest you to know that we are unique, from creation. And without this, all of us would have been at the same level academically, politically, socially, and economically. That is why we should never give ourselves to pity whatsoever. Once you look down on yourself as a ‘second-class citizen’, you are bound to be lonely, depressed, and withdrawn. As much as we know that every day is a new day coming with bright hope and a window of opportunities for the explorer, it takes wise people to discover the opportunities of each day.

According to biblical and scientific interpretation, we are living in the age of reason, which is evident in various developments like the scientific discoveries, proliferation of religious beliefs, cultural diffusion, and subsequent change in events. These developments, despite their effects, have led many to the crossroads.

Certainly, ‘what goes around comes around’. Therefore, we should be careful with whatever we do. Imagine yourself on the road about to cross a bridge before reaching your destination. On your way crossing a bridge, you met a broken one. What is the next thing to do? It behoves you to look for an alternative solution. It is either you swim, use the boat, or suspend the journey. Whenever we face circumstances, they become challenges, and we have to tackle them, thus confirming the saying that necessity is the mother of invention and challenge brings out the best in man. Events and common sense confirm these impressions.

Every nation on earth is endowed with enough resources for the explorer. Despite our shortcoming as a people and nation, we will certainly progress when we bury our differences and come to understand ourselves as brothers and sisters. Otherwise, posterity may not forgive us if we do not justify our conduct much as we leave behind the negative impression for history and concentrate on the positive effect of our being potential individuals capable of making change.

It is obvious that we build from this time by waking from sleep and being optimistic in whatever we do. After all, the purpose for our life is to survive and accomplish a certain task. The author of life will crown our efforts with success if we hope in him and work towards the realization of such goals.

The beauty of nature is manifested in various creatures and their purposes. The animals are also unique in and with their differences. We are also unique following our potential with further influencing factors as the environment, beliefs, and cultural differences. However, a time comes when one looks beyond some of those influences and reasons for oneself. The key to success lies in the individual. If one chooses to succeed, he will succeed; if he chooses to fail, he will fail.

Based on what we may have encountered, the elderly and, indeed, the public are left with some doubts about the youth; it is clear that the youth must define the future that will suit them. For the youth to have a brighter future, we must expand our horizon in every sense and focus on such ventures that will make a better future for us