Teenager Debbie Thornton wonders if teens today are too self-involved and busy to be really interested in justice issues. In another part of this feature from Face Up magazine, Sue Leonard interviews some Belvedere students about their sleep-out to raise money for the homeless.
OK, we’re teenagers. One minute our hormones soar to extraordinary heights. The next they plummet at the rate of the Cheeky Girls’ popularity. (Actually, they were never that popular, but you get what I mean!)
We teens are all over the place. We fight with our parents over money and curfews, with our brothers for the remote control, with our sisters for nicking our clothes, with our friends for nicking our boyfriends/girlfriends.
Fighting for causes
Do we really have any energy left to fight for worthy causes? Like social injustice, third world poverty, or homelessness. Whenever these issues are brought up, we feel bad for the awful things people go through, and maybe momentarily thank our lucky stars we’re not in that position. But then we get back to the more immediate business of moaning and complaining about what we don’t have, and how disastrous our own lives are.
Just how concerned are we about justice issues really?
Transition year in most schools is dedicated to broadening our minds and expanding our vision. Huge effort goes into raising money for charity. We hold “civvies days” where we get to wear our own clothes. We put on fashion shows in aid of Childline or Concern. We perform musicals sponsored by the local shop, with the money going towards clean water pipes in Rwanda. But who can honestly say that they do it solely to support a good cause? Very few, I’d imagine.
We want to have fun
We do it for hundreds of reasons – with charity coming way down the list. I hate to say it, but most of us use charity events as an excuse to put on shows or have a table quiz. We use them to get out of class, or to wear fancy clothes for fashion extravaganzas. Basically, we use them just to have fun.
Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re not interested in what’s going on in the world. We are – most of us anyway. We feel awful about the terrible injustices that exist. But, in some respects, youth and ignorance can be bliss. When you cannot directly change something, like the shortage of AIDS medicine in Africa, why stress over it? We generally console ourselves with the notion that we can’t help. We can’t physically hand out the drugs, or get the drugs companies to get their act together. And if we could, we would. But sometimes, I wonder if this is not just an excuse to remain in our own cushy little world ignoring the harsh reality of life outside.
Because when there is an issue that affects us teens directly, we are very quick to spring into action.
Making a difference
Last year the government threatened to reintroduce college fees. We obviously were outraged, and pledged our support to the student cause. Thousands of students from all over Ireland took to the streets of Dublin chanting and waving banners. Our voice did make a difference. The introduction of full fees was postponed until after the next general election.
So, is it only when we can make a difference that we take part? Or is it our selfishness that stops us from getting involved when we’re not the ones directly affected?
I know there are loads of teens who do actively help others. The Belvedere College boys sleep rough in town every Christmas to raise money for the homeless, a tradition going back many years.
Others do more than just put spare change in a collection box. They hold the collection box, set up Amnesty International branches in their schools, join justice and peace groups.
One could be cynical about people or groups like these, and say that they’re not fixing anything; they haven’t solved world hunger. But think for a moment if such groups didn’t exist. The voice for human rights would be so weak we would almost completely forget the issues that don’t directly affect us. There would be no hope left, no vision of a better world we could be part of.
Example of adults
And what about adults? What example do they give us? Adults sometimes brand the teenage years as the most ‘self-involved and selfish.’ But are they really any better? Problems like acne and overdue homework get replaced by wrinkles and overdue mortgage repayments. They probably do even less charity work than we. Cycle around Cuba, and raise money for charity at the same time. Wow! How great would you feel after that holiday! Your conscience would be clear for years.
One of the main excuses people make today for not getting involved in justice issues is that they don’t have time. And it’s probably true. Working hours are longer than ever before. So much so that the Americans have even introduced “mental health days.” But if we organised ourselves a bit better, if we really were interested in doing our bit to create a better world, I think we could all find a little time to give to some cause that badly needs support.
So, are we just lazy, self-involved, cushy inhabitants of a first world land? Or are we just so consumed by everything that’s going on in our lives that we genuinely find it incredibly hard to fit anything else in? If we’re honest, we will have to admit that it’s probably a little bit of both.
Questions for teenagers to think about:
1. Do you think most teens are too self-involved or busy to be interested in justice issues?
2. In your opinion, is Debbie being too harsh on teenagers today?
3. Do you think you and your friends could do more to support social justice causes?
Roughing it
Every Christmas for the past 18 years, fifth and sixth year students from Dublin’s Belvedere College have done a sleep out to raise money for the homeless. Sue Leonard caught up with four of last year’s participants to find out why they do it.
Christmas is a great time to think of others, to buy charity cards, or put money in a collection tin. But how many of us would suffer physical hardship to help those in trouble? Robert Clancy, Paul Quinn, Fiachra Lambe, and David Holohan spent the two nights before last Christmas Eve on the streets collecting for the homeless.
Fasting on the street
Fifth and sixth year pupils at Belvedere College, Dublin, they joined 12 classmates and some members of staff outside the GPO in O’Connell Street from 11.00am on December 22nd until 9.00am on Christmas Eve. To add to their discomfort, 24 hours of that time were spent fasting.
It all started 18 years ago when the charity ‘Focus’ was looking for funds. Pupils at Belvedere came up with the idea of a sleep out in order to highlight the problem of homelessness while raising money for the cause. The school enthusiastically accepted the idea, and the sleep out has become an annual Christmas fundraiser.
Last year there were over 60 applications for the 16 places, and each boy had to write a letter saying why he wanted to take part.
“When I was in 4th year, I went to Calcutta with the school to work with the homeless there,” says Paul Quinn, 18. “And it was only after that that I noticed there was a problem with homeless people in my own country as well.”
Learning social justice
Robert Clancy, 17, says that social justice has always been put forward as the most important part of a Jesuit education.
“If you’re going to stand up for that, you have to volunteer. It’s very important to me. And by sleeping out, it draws attention to homelessness as well as raise money. The whole population of Dublin can see you sitting on the street.”
David Holohan, 17, volunteered because it was a chance to give something back to people less fortunate than himself.
“You see a side to Dublin you do not see during the day,” he says. “At night the city is not pretty. It’s important to see this instead of the happy image we get during the day. It’s terrible that anybody should have to sleep out all the time.”
But weren’t they afraid to be in an area known for drug addicts and crime?
“Not at all,” says Fiachra Lambe, 17. “There’s always a Garda presence there. And I had 16 people watching my back, as well as a relatively comfortable place to sit down. I was talking to homeless people who were addicts, and I did not have a problem with them. They really appreciated what we were doing for them.”
Getting mocked
Some passers-by mocked the boys, saying it was all very well for them to sleep out for just two nights.
“They said, ‘You’re not homeless. You go to a private school,” says Paul. “But we think it was better doing those two nights so we could do something for the homeless.
“And many of the homeless were very appreciative. One guy was a slow learner, and they wouldn’t let him into secondary school. Then his mother died, and, basically, he couldn’t get a job because he wasn’t able to fill in an application form. That meant he lacked confidence. He’d managed to get off the street through the money raised in a previous sleep out, but he came back on the street to spend the night with us. He wanted to help other homeless people.”
One guy walked up to Fiachra, and showed him all the scars on his arms.
“He had 50 scars from where he had been cutting himself and trying to kill himself,” says Fiachra. “He said it was through things like the sleep out that he got money for hostels.”
Christmas disrupted
Christmas for the boys was totally disrupted. They lost a couple of shopping days, and were so tired over the holiday that they could barely take part in the family festivities.
Fiachra spent two hours on Christmas morning counting money. “We were so exhausted we could hardly work out how much money we had raised. But we were very happy to do it,” he says, telling me that they raised an astonishing E105,300.
All the boys agree that last Christmas was their happiest ever.
“I remember going home after Christmas Mass, and looking around our house at how much we have,” says David. “We have TVs, videos, and all these goods that are not really important. And on the sleep out we were so happy just to have a sleeping bag. It was great being able to help people, and it definitely changed me.”
Paul was so tired on Christmas Day he lost his appetite. “I couldn’t eat much at all because of the fast,” he says. “I suddenly realised I was getting full before the dessert course. And the next day I stayed in bed all day. I was absolutely knackered.”
All the boys hope to make volunteering part of their lives. Paul wants to return to Calcutta, and the others are keen to get there some day too. Do they ever feel guilty that they have so much compared to those on the streets?
Pangs of guilt
“I felt a little guilty that I was going home to enjoy Christmas the next day when the people on the streets had little to look forward to,” admits David. But he knows he can’t help the circumstances he was born into.
“Our teachers emphasise that we should not walk around beating ourselves up about it,” says Paul. “I couldn’t go home and say, ‘Oh, how could you put that turkey in the oven!’ It’s just luck. And it’s better to raise awareness and get people to help others out. When you are out there, you see where the money is going.”
Traditionally, Belvedere old boys take part in the sleep out each year, camping outside the Bank of Ireland. Will these four ever take part again?
“Definitely,” they say in unison. They’re all determined to make it part of their Christmas tradition.
These features first appeared in Face Up, a teen magazine produced by the Irish Redemptorists.
