The youth of today?

Since 2008 St Ethelburga's has been more actively involving young Londoners in exploring ideas of reconciliation and peace and how they might apply in their particular circumstances. We've been welcoming tots to teens from school and youth groups to visit the Centre and find out for themselves how they could help promote peace in their communities. Always keen to break misconceptions, we've put a special focus on looking at how young people can capture the wisdom of faith traditions in this area - traditions which can inspire a new generation of Gandhi's, Abdul Ghaffar Khan's and Martin Luther King's!

I'm always struck by the breadth of young people's understanding and experience of violence, ranging from concerns about the war in Iraq to young people in their community bleaching their skin to try and 'fit in'. When talking about things that concern them, discussions which begin at the level of "yuck school dinners" can end with young people's frustrations at the hypocrisy of being told not to use violence by the very people they see using violence to solve situations themselves; parents, police, government and so on.

Young people see straight through any mask of pretence with an astonishing level of perceptiveness; their hunger for justice combined with utter frankness make them a powerful force to be reckoned with. One 12 year old girl last week commented disarmingly "I don't see why everyone reckons foreigners are stealing jobs. If they're the best people for the jobs why shouldn't they get them?"

I love the 'lightbulb' moments young people have. A hot "silent debate" between 16 year olds about the usefulness of Christianity in responding to violence led to one commenting that for it to work everybody would have to be of that faith. Another responded; "that's not true - they might just take the concepts of nonviolence and use them if they think they're a good idea, you don't have to be believe in the actual faith": my job there was done!

Young people are inspiring, energetic, creative, challenging, infuriating and everything in between - especially when it comes to time keeping... But I wish I could see the London free papers reporting on these young people. The "silent majority" of youngsters whose heart and desires often remain true in the face of tremendously challenging circumstances; those quietly but surely becoming the role models for their generation.

Sarah Hulme

Project Officer, Youth Refusing Violence