Our Year, Our Voice & Our Choice
On the 12th August 2010, the United Nations launched International Year of Youth, calling the attention of the worldwide youth to raise their voices in all freedom and courage, and also calling the attention of global citizens to rise to the occasion of listening to the voices of the youth, whose voices have been either unheard, or neglected thus far. Approximately about 1.7 billion in the world are young people, and the world has more young people now than ever before. This directs to a phenomenal change in the demography of the world, and necessitates for the upsurge of the voices of youth be it in governance, community building or any other facet of life. The theme for this year proposed by UN is “Dialogue and Mutual Understanding” and the slogan for this year is “Our Year Our Voice”. Thanks to the efforts of NCCI-Commission on Youth for highlighting this year and for joining with other youth movements in raising our voices for a just world.
The youth speak the facts as truth without any adulterations to their voice, for they believe in the strength of truth. They are bold in calling, ‘a spade a spade’; for they don’t mince their words nor doctor their speeches according to their conveniences. Unfortunately, these voices are regarded as cacophonous, worthless and sometimes called immature, and are not heed to.
The Context
The recent suicides of young Dalit men and women due to the unbearable torture of discrimination on the basis of caste continue to be a reality of our times. Institutions of higher learning are not an exception, for such incidences have been happening unabatedly. Mr. Senthil Kumar, a research scholar in Physics at Hyderabad Central University committed suicide and Mr. Bal Mukundh, a final year student of MBBS in All India Institute of Medical Sciences committed suicide, due to caste discriminations highlight the plights of young people today. These young peoples’ voices were unheard, their cries for justice were unheard and their tryst for destiny had to come to an end abruptly. These young men’s road to death started with the day they joined their institutions, for the institutions of higher learning have become fertile crescents for caste perpetrations. The voices of the dominant continue to amplitude their power by suppressing the cries of the oppressed communities. They bring in the argument, as those that have ‘merit’ will be rewarded, and lets do away with the reservation systems. And students, who enter these educational institutions through reservations and quotas, undergo a hell lot of discrimination and humiliations. Where is the space for the voices of our young Dalits to speak out and articulate? Where is the space for dialogue and mutual understanding in situations like that of this? Is the society open enough to listen to the cries of the Dalit communities? Questions concerning this go on and on, but the fact of the matter is, in this year of our youth, are the voices of Dalit youth heard or muted?
The recent suicides of young Dalit men and women due to the unbearable torture of discrimination on the basis of caste continue to be a reality of our times. Institutions of higher learning are not an exception, for such incidences have been happening unabatedly. Mr. Senthil Kumar, a research scholar in Physics at Hyderabad Central University committed suicide and Mr. Bal Mukundh, a final year student of MBBS in All India Institute of Medical Sciences committed suicide, due to caste discriminations highlight the plights of young people today. These young peoples’ voices were unheard, their cries for justice were unheard and their tryst for destiny had to come to an end abruptly. These young men’s road to death started with the day they joined their institutions, for the institutions of higher learning have become fertile crescents for caste perpetrations. The voices of the dominant continue to amplitude their power by suppressing the cries of the oppressed communities. They bring in the argument, as those that have ‘merit’ will be rewarded, and lets do away with the reservation systems. And students, who enter these educational institutions through reservations and quotas, undergo a hell lot of discrimination and humiliations. Where is the space for the voices of our young Dalits to speak out and articulate? Where is the space for dialogue and mutual understanding in situations like that of this? Is the society open enough to listen to the cries of the Dalit communities? Questions concerning this go on and on, but the fact of the matter is, in this year of our youth, are the voices of Dalit youth heard or muted?
Time has now come to listen to the voices of the youth from across our Churches and societies, and more certainly the voices of our Dalit young people, whose voices have been marginalized, for being Dalit and for being young. Jesus Christ as a young man, voiced out against the injustices done in his days, and has given space for those voices that were marginalized in the society to be heard. As a Church, we need to confess that not enough space was given to the voices of young people, for always their voice was sidelined under the guise that these voices are from inexperienced and so on.
Jesus' Silence
In Matthew 15: 21-28, we see a Canaanite woman, who cried to Jesus for healing her daughter who was demon possessed. Here is a voice of a woman, a Canaanite, and more over who had a daughter who was demon possessed. I assume that this woman would have been a young woman, who took all the courage to voice out the need of her daughter. At that very instant verse 23 says, ‘Jesus did not answer her a word’. Did Jesus become deaf at that point to listen to the voice of that woman? Was Jesus closed in making a conversation with a woman, who was from a different community? Was Jesus worried that his Jewish male identity would be maligned if he spoke to a woman in need? Was there not a space at Jesus for the voices that are in deep distress and pain? Jesus’ silence and his reluctance to answer to her voice probably would have pained that woman at that moment. Now enters the disciples, to add fuel to the fire and not just asked or requested Jesus, but were begging Jesus ‘to send her away, for she is crying after us.’(23b)
In Matthew 15: 21-28, we see a Canaanite woman, who cried to Jesus for healing her daughter who was demon possessed. Here is a voice of a woman, a Canaanite, and more over who had a daughter who was demon possessed. I assume that this woman would have been a young woman, who took all the courage to voice out the need of her daughter. At that very instant verse 23 says, ‘Jesus did not answer her a word’. Did Jesus become deaf at that point to listen to the voice of that woman? Was Jesus closed in making a conversation with a woman, who was from a different community? Was Jesus worried that his Jewish male identity would be maligned if he spoke to a woman in need? Was there not a space at Jesus for the voices that are in deep distress and pain? Jesus’ silence and his reluctance to answer to her voice probably would have pained that woman at that moment. Now enters the disciples, to add fuel to the fire and not just asked or requested Jesus, but were begging Jesus ‘to send her away, for she is crying after us.’(23b)
Disciples Grievance
The cry of that distressed woman was jarring to the ears of the disciples, was a disturbance to their following Jesus and the disciples were even prejudiced, thinking that the woman was crying after them. This act of the disciples is yet again to suppress the voice of that depressed woman. At the behest of the disciples, Jesus gives a political answer with some shades of theology and philosophy, telling that his jurisdiction is within the house of Israel and was destined for the lost sheep within that fold. By this answer, probably Jesus thought that this woman would leave that vicinity, for his intellectual propositions cannot be challenged. The woman did not give up, until her voice was heard, and in all desperation, probably in a louder tone, she knelt and asked Jesus to help her. Jesus now took the occasion to interpret his theological answer from a day-to-day affair and said how just it is to take the bread from the child and throw it to the dogs? Jesus probably again would have thought, with this kind of analogy, this woman would shut up and leave.
Woman's Resilience
All the more the woman was more challenged and replied in all boldness to the analogy with yet another analogy, that ‘even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters table.’ That day she made it a point to make her voice be heard at any cost with any kind of theology. Her strong voice for healing, her cry for justice and her tongues for liberation challenged a person like Jesus and brought in a change in him. No doubt the disciple would have been dumb at the response of Jesus when he said, ‘ O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ The woman’s voice was finally heard.
The cry of that distressed woman was jarring to the ears of the disciples, was a disturbance to their following Jesus and the disciples were even prejudiced, thinking that the woman was crying after them. This act of the disciples is yet again to suppress the voice of that depressed woman. At the behest of the disciples, Jesus gives a political answer with some shades of theology and philosophy, telling that his jurisdiction is within the house of Israel and was destined for the lost sheep within that fold. By this answer, probably Jesus thought that this woman would leave that vicinity, for his intellectual propositions cannot be challenged. The woman did not give up, until her voice was heard, and in all desperation, probably in a louder tone, she knelt and asked Jesus to help her. Jesus now took the occasion to interpret his theological answer from a day-to-day affair and said how just it is to take the bread from the child and throw it to the dogs? Jesus probably again would have thought, with this kind of analogy, this woman would shut up and leave.
Woman's Resilience
All the more the woman was more challenged and replied in all boldness to the analogy with yet another analogy, that ‘even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the masters table.’ That day she made it a point to make her voice be heard at any cost with any kind of theology. Her strong voice for healing, her cry for justice and her tongues for liberation challenged a person like Jesus and brought in a change in him. No doubt the disciple would have been dumb at the response of Jesus when he said, ‘ O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.’ The woman’s voice was finally heard.
As Church we have most times been reluctant to listen to the voices of youth and voices for healing, and all the more like Jesus and the disciples, our adults and elders in the Churches have every reason to let down the voices of youth. This woman, challenged Jesus, challenged the disciples and I believe even the Church today for we need a change from within, where we can move from speaking and being a noisy church to a church where we allow the voices of youth and those in distress speak out, where we can move from preaching mode to listening mode, and where our Churches become the platforms for the varied and diverse voices of youth to be heard and attended to. The silence of Jesus, the grievance of disciples was challenged by the resilience of this woman, who spoke in all courage to voice out for her daughter’s need. The voices of youth are always kept in a mute mode, and let us give them a voice. Wake up Church to voice out the voices of young people in this year. Wishing you all an eventful International Year of Youth. Our Year, Our Voice and lets make it our choice.
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