A Message to the Youth

By: Manzi Mugisha Prince.

In today's world, the bad has now become the new good, if that makes any sense at all. Put it this way, you are a young teenage boy and receive two different invitations to go to two different places. One, a group of friends of yours are coming together and joining an evening session of prayer and worship at the local church. They want you to come with them. The next invitation is from your other group of friends, who have rented an apartment, and want to get wild all night, play games, drink and do all the crazy stuff you can think of.

Without further questioning, you are going for the latter, I mean to play and enjoy yourself all night, or sit three-four hours singing and praising pretty slim chances. But let's look at the bigger picture. You are going to go to that party, drink with your friends, play video games, then what? What productive activity have you gotten out of that? Just think about it. Most times, we do not work towards doing the stuff that adds value to our life. That money you spent renting that apartment or buying those drinks could have been used in other things and could have been multiplied. And mind you, money spent is never gained. If you got that same money and paid for a visit to the museum, paid a month to go to the local swimming pool, something of the sort, these are productive in their different ways. Yes, you have spent money, but you have earned a skill, swimming, which is beneficial of course. How about visiting the museum? You have got to see, where the first president lived, for instance, you have a hint of ancient Rwanda, that kind of thing. Isn't that useful?

I am not trying to be the protagonist here, it is not that every money I earn is used in something productive. I am adopting the mindset as well. Think of this as the first step, becoming aware of it. And it is said that most times, it is always the first step that matters the most.

Now, back to where it all started, if you choose to go to the church, you will benefit in several ways. You are strengthening your relationship with your God, and who knows, you might meet new people who share the same interest as you do, and together, grow and follow the upright path. The kind of people you keep around you indeed determine who you are or who you are going to become.

We hang around certain people for quite a number of reasons, and one of them is, you share the same interest. Take a moment, evaluate those around you, what do you have that they have in common. You will discover that there are a lot of qualities you share. Now, are those qualities ones to be proud of? If not then...