Ready Mindset Go!

‘Go! Go! . . .Go now, run!’ shouted a man with terror in his voice. Abdullah (not his real name) saw the militia getting out of trucks in his village shooting indiscriminately. People dropped dead to the ground; blood splattered against walls. He looked back for his mother, brother and sister. One of the soldiers grabbed his mother. “Go! Abdullah” his mother screamed. These were the last words he heard from his mother as while running he looked back to see the soldier take a machete to his mother’s neck.  Abdel ran and ran and ran.

That was in South Sudan. Abdullah was only twelve when he arrived at the United Nations Refugee camp hungry, malnourished and deeply traumatised.  The vision of horror and death were permanently imprinted on his brain from futile and senseless civil war.

Abdullah eventually arrived in Sydney Australia as a refugee with his uncle and aunt to begin his new life.  However, contrary to what many of us envision the meaning of the words ‘new life’, for Abdullah this meant new struggles, loneliness, uncertainty and fear.

Loneliness, uncertainty and fear are common themes in life and as our world changes at a rapid pace these elements are even more pronounced. More than ever people are seeking a sense of belonging and certainties that can bring a better life.  However, we become quickly deluded as we find that the more we search certainty the more we find that uncertainty is the norm.  Our Mindsets, that is our patterns of thinking and behaving, have quickly become less than satisfactory for coping with the stressors of daily living let alone a rapidly changing world.

I work for an organization Youth for Global Peace. We offer programs in Coaching Mentoring, Education and Leadership for young people from refugee, migrant and low-income families. I listen to their concerns about the world they are about to enter as adults. I hear their fear and pain. I hear their deep dissatisfaction with present leadership of all parties, factions and political philosophies both here in Australia and the world. I hear their frustrations that adult ‘men’ are seemingly incapable to creating a world of peace – yes, their words. When I asked a recent Peace Circle of young persons from different cultural background what they felt were some solutions and ways forward, one young woman spoke firmly, ‘A new Mindset.’

Our youth have inherited a mindset that seems to no longer serve them.  Youth suicide across the globe is increasing alarmingly. It is the leading cause of death among young people.   What will the new mindset look like? What questions could we ask about this New Mindset? How could it contribute to a peaceful world where we could have a deep sense of belonging to this blue planet? These are some of the questions we are beginning to explore.

Abdullah was smiling.  “That speaks to me”, he said.  Abdullah who had just graduated in Engineering from a Sydney University remembered the time he was told to “go!” when he was fleeing his village as a young boy.  “Now I know where I have to go to make this a better world; to a new Mindset.”

What Mindset do you as a young person or as young in heart envisage? Let’s begin to dream.  Yes, it’s OK to build castles in the sky as long as you start to build the foundations beneath them. Let’s start to build together.