by Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ
Let me first send you all my New Year’s blessings. May you and your loved ones be blessed with good, supportive accompaniment and abundant divine grace to enjoy a hope that strengthens your inner peace throughout this new year!
Hope is, indeed, what we all need and want. Yet sometimes, hope is hard to come by, especially when our immediate context is anything but hopeful. According to World Health Organisation, there has been a 25% increase in mental health problems worldwide, triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is by no means a negligible amount, but quite the opposite.
As we know, mental health challenges are particularly harsh on the relatively vulnerable age groups, i.e., youth/young people and elderlies. They have fewer social and personal resources to counter stresses from the outside or within the persons. This is manifested in some of our youth and young people having to adjust their psychology after two years of physical seclusion from their peers due to the pandemic. With the resumption of physical schooling, expected socialization becomes a source of inner tensions for them.
Research shows that stress and anxiety associated with the pandemic decreased students’ motivation and morale. In fact, relying on distance learning for a prolonged period was somehow related to them lagging behind academically, especially in language and maths. What is noteworthy is that this is not just the case in Hong Kong but in other parts of the world as well.
Most of us will turn to our trusted peers and elders for their ears, advice, and social support when we feel stressed out. But due to the significant amount of emigration from Hong Kong in these two years, these youth and young people are missing their good friends and trusted teachers or mentors. Hence, they are lonelier and more helpless. Not to mention the inner wounds that have yet to be healed from the social unrest that took place in Hong Kong five years ago. The latter might be further reinforced by the wars and social unrest happening in other parts of the world.
However, the stress and tensions that our young people are facing, which are likely correlated to factors mentioned above, are not properly recognised by the adults around them. We can see parents and educators worrying about the academic lag, and they are doing their best to make up for the loss. Yet, do not know or recognise the level of stress and damage inflicted on the insecure young psyche of their children or students. The persistent sense of insecurity discounts their ability to envisage a future or to commit themselves long term.
And we are probably not aware of the number of students who suffer badly from sleep problems throughout the night. Prolonged sleep deprivation can cause serious mental and psychological problems, including clinical depression and anxiety, which are known to relate to suicidal ideation.
Hence, for this new year, we must seriously ask ourselves what we really value in our children and students. Learning aptitude and academic achievements? Highly competitive persons, winning in a competitive society? Being well-run examination machines for excellent results? Children or students who bring honour and glory to their families and schools? Or, young people enlivened with dreams and well-grounded hope for a meaningful future? And individuals with self-confidence and true hope in a God who loves them as they are?
With the last two experiences, they will have the capacity to grow up with deep faith in the truth, goodness, beauty, and love, which are of God, for their present and future.
We, the adults, have the responsibility to ensure that our young people are properly supported and accompanied, as well as to learn how better to support and accompany them. For example, to create an environment that allows and celebrates failures and encourages informed risk-taking. It is all right to make mistakes and be a fool, as long as we can reflect and learn with a growth mindset. All this is because God is a God who loves genuinely and unconditionally. That is why we can have our hope based on that love alone!
Finally, my dear young people, please believe that God has not and will never leave you to struggle on your own. You only need to believe and learn how to listen and follow God humbly. Do not keep your unhappiness and helplessness to yourselves alone but share them with trusted friends or professionals, and with God in particular. And our God of many surprises can very well surprise you with graces and opportunities that go beyond your expectations.
Have a meaningful and ever fruitful 2024!
+ Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ
