1. The Worries and Hopes of Youth

... It is especially important not to leave behind regrets about your teens, the time to establish the all-important foundation for the rest of your lives.

...I would like all of you to experience the satisfaction of having accomplished something -- it doesn't matter what -- in your own way and capacity, even if it's something as simple as cleaning, participating in club activities, doing volunteer work or whatever.  The main thing is to be satisfied knowing that you've contributed something, that you've done your best.  Please become individuals of whom others can say with admiration: "There is something different about him that sets him apart" or "She is someone I can really respect."


Press forward in the midst of problems

... Please do not allow yourselves to succumb to negativity and cynicism.  Suffering is to be found in any era.  Youth is a time of problems, pain and confusion.
  And grades are probably not the only source of worry or anguish you face.  You may have problems at home, with your health, with how you feel about your looks, with  members of the opposite sex or with friends.  Feelings of pain, insecurity, frustration and sadness may assail you.  Youth means grappling with all kinds of problems.  It means resolving them, in spite of all difficulties, pushing aside the dark clouds of despair and advancing toward the sun, toward hope.  This strength is the hallmark of youth.
  Having problems, making mistakes or feeling regrets is only natural.  What's important is to be undefeated by them.  In the midst of worries and struggles, always look forward and advance.
  Suppose you are lost in the jungle.  You want to find your way out and reach the ocean but don't know which way to go.  What do you do?  The answer is to keep moving ahead, taking a course that leads to a river.  If you follow the river downstream, you will eventually reach the ocean.


A great leader is a friend to the suffering

... A famous person once told his son, "Your grades can be mediocre, but please become a person of outstanding character."  Greatness as a human being is not determined by educational background or social position.  Even people who graduate from top universities may engage in criminal activities.  And there are some among the so-called elite who are overbearing and arrogant.  I want  I want to foster leaders, not elitists.
   A truly great person is a friend to those in suffering, pain and misery.  Such a person can be called a leader of the new century.

   More often than not in today's society, the suffering and disadvantaged are ostracized, despised and pushed to the margins.  Many of our current leaders are guilty of doing this.  This is deplorable mistake.

  Study should be for the purpose of finding a way to help those who are suffering.  Many leaders today, however, look down on them and only add to their misery.  There is no society as cruel, arrogant, cold or cowardly as ours.
...

(Not getting into a school of first choice)

Not attending the school of your choice may certainly be disappointing.  But viewed in the long term and from the essential point of study, it doesn't really matter that you graduate from a well-known school.

... Mr Toda: "Become an inspiration for those who cannot attend good schools."  Those who start out under difficult circumstances and go on to become first-rate individuals can be sources of hope and inspiration for many.  Pelase remember always that academic background isn't everything.

    At any rate, since you have been accepted to a school -- even if it is not your first choice and regardless of how society judges it -- it's important to decide that the place where you are is the very best, that it is the perfect place for you to learn all you want.  This way of thinking is far more constructive and beneficial in the long t=run.
  It's foolish to allow your confidence to be undermined by the opinions of others.  You are all in your teens; limitless possibilities are open to all of you.

_____
(The obove is excerpted from Discussions on Youth by Daisaku Ikeda, pg 6)

Takeaways from "Discussion on Youth"

Introduction
Preface by SGI President Ikeda
Editor's Note

Part One: The Hopes of Youth
1. The Worries and Hopes of Youth
2. Youth: A time to challenge
3. Friendship and Perspectives on life

Part Two: The Heartbeat of Youth
4. What is Love?
5. Finding Happiness in Your Work
6. What is a Global Citizen?ddddddddd
7. Bridging Out your Best
8. What is Kindness?
9. The essence of human rights

Part Three: Youth and Self-Improvement
10. The Joy of Reading
11. Knowing History is Knowing Yourself
12. Appreciating Art and Culture
13. Dialogue with Nature
14. Discovering Great Literature

Part Four: Youth and Faith
15. Why Do We Chant Every Day?
16. Why Do We Have an Organization?
17. Weaving the Fabric of Peace

Part Five: The Questions of Youth

18. What is Freedom?
19. What is Individuality?
20. What is the Power of Prayer?

Part Six: Youth and the Future
21. What is a Good Friend?
22. It Takes Courage
23. Why are the Good Despised?
24. Why Go to College?

Part Seven: The Energy of Youth
25.  Life and Death Are One

Postscript

Appendix A: You are the Hope of the World
Appendix B: Youth are struggling between problems and hopes

The Power of Nonviolence

The Power of Nonviolence

Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K. 

Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, in his June 9 lecture at the University of
Puerto Rico, shared the following story as an example of nonviolence in
parenting:

"I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my
grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in
the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no
neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going
to town to visit friends or go to the movies. One day, my father asked me
to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the
chance.

"Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she
needed and, since I had all day in town, my father ask me to take care of
several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my
father off that morning, he said, "I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together."

"After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest
movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I
forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00.

"He anxiously asked me, 'Why were you late?" I was so ashamed of
telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, 'The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait," not realizing that he had already called the
garage.

"When he caught me in the lie, he said: "There's something wrong in the
way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the
truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk
home 18 miles and think about it."

"So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the
dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for
five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered. I decided then and there that I was never
going to lie again.

"I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the
way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I
don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing
the same thing. But this single nonviolent action was so powerful that it
is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the power of nonviolence."


By Dr. Arun Gandhi

Not being blessed with material wealth in your youth is not a shame, but a source of pride

Though you may not be blessed with material wealth in your youth, you should not be the least bit ashamed. On the contrary, this should be a source of pride. The true misfortune would be to be too richly blessed that one loses any ambition to succeed, becoming a spiritless young man with an old man's heart.
[GT6-Apr-23]

A great goal makes for a great man

A profound ideal makes for a profound life, and a great goal makes for a great man. A life without an ideal, a goal, may lack any effort or difficulty, but there is no joy of improvement, either...
[GT6-Apr-26]

whether you have that determination and courage or not to live or a greater purpose In that is revealed your true worth as a person.

In every field, there is shallow and profound.  It is the same in life.  Do you live for yourself alone, or for a greater purpose? It is easy to live thinking only for yourself.  But to live for a great ideal requires steadfast commitment and courage.  The question is whether you have that determination and courage or not.  In that is revealed your true worth as a person.

无论在那一个领域，都有它的深浅。人生也是一样，究竟这一生是否单为了自己而活的呢，还是为了更大的目标和价值而活的呢？活着只想到到自己是很容易的，但是，要为一个大理想而活，就必需坚强的决意和勇气了。问题是能否建立这决意和勇气呢？这可以说是决定了生为人的真正价值了。

[GT6-Apr-1]

Religions should unite the potential for good in people's hearts toward benefiting society and humanity and creating a better future.

For Today and Tomorrow Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda Saturday, February 18, 2012 Religious strife must be avoided at all cost; under no circumstance should it be allowed. People may hold differentreligious beliefs, but the bottom line is that we are all human beings. We all seek happiness and desire peace. Religion should bring people together. It should unite the potential for good in people's hearts toward benefiting society and humanity and creating a better future.

Youth should actively seek out challenges and hardships

Youth should not seek an easy comfortable path. No one develops in a pampered environment. Youth should instead actively seek out challenges and hardships, transforming them all into valuable assets as they strive to become individuals of outstanding character and ability.
-- Daily Encouragement by Daisaku Ikeda

There is no such thing as a life without trials and tribulations

There is no such thing as a life without trials and tribulations. A life without meeting obstacles is a weak one. One cannot depend on someone who has not had to overcome difficulties.
-- Daisaku Ikeda