This news article was recently posted in the News Archive of Sikhnet.com -- and some of you may find it an interesting read, and perhaps even a good discussion starter. I don't know. It is up to you.
What impressed me about this article is this. It talks about making an effort -- making an effort to communicate across generations and cultural experiences -- so that young people who are living in a rapidly changing world -- will find meaning and relevance in Sikhism. Cultural change is the frontline challenge of the young. They are the first to have to come to terms with shifting reality and uncertain truth. They have felt this in each generation, and yet parents and grandparents forget what that shifting reality was like for them when they were young.
Kids are moved around from here to there and told where they will go to school and where they will live. They just do it, and then they encounter ideas, beliefs and experiences that they must adapt to. They have to make sense of this world of change. When they come up with answers that the older generations do not understand, frustration on both sides can be the result. What happens? Generations stop talking and people start drifting apart. There is Silence.
This article talks about that Silence. And how overcoming Silence may be a necessary step in bringing the young back to a Sikhism that has meaning for them. Read and enjoy. Tell us what you think.
SikhNet News Archive - Keeping Faith (an essay by Puneet Parhar) - 02/15/2008
What impressed me about this article is this. It talks about making an effort -- making an effort to communicate across generations and cultural experiences -- so that young people who are living in a rapidly changing world -- will find meaning and relevance in Sikhism. Cultural change is the frontline challenge of the young. They are the first to have to come to terms with shifting reality and uncertain truth. They have felt this in each generation, and yet parents and grandparents forget what that shifting reality was like for them when they were young.
Kids are moved around from here to there and told where they will go to school and where they will live. They just do it, and then they encounter ideas, beliefs and experiences that they must adapt to. They have to make sense of this world of change. When they come up with answers that the older generations do not understand, frustration on both sides can be the result. What happens? Generations stop talking and people start drifting apart. There is Silence.
This article talks about that Silence. And how overcoming Silence may be a necessary step in bringing the young back to a Sikhism that has meaning for them. Read and enjoy. Tell us what you think.
SikhNet News Archive - Keeping Faith (an essay by Puneet Parhar) - 02/15/2008
