Whispers to Our Adolescent Children!

I love you, little ones, and I prefer you to your counterparts of thirty years ago, because you surpass them in energy and industry, just as you are stronger, quicker, and handsomer than they were at your age. Yet not one of these qualities will spare you the troubles of adolescence. That is why grown-ups would not wish to return to this stage of life if they were given the choice of going back; and because I love you, I want to smooth for you some of the difficulties we passed through when we were your age.

Within you are latent forces struggling to break out, which sometimes drive you, in their wake, into the most awkward situations. You have no doubt experienced the phase of rebellion, when the adolescent finds himself on the threshold of the adult world stripped of weapons — such as money, absolute freedom, and a firm will — and so shrinks into himself and blames his parents.

Yes — it is not the parents' fault if a boy of fifteen does not leap to adulthood in a single bound. But you can soften the harshness of this period by living your own age. Do not, then, set before your eyes the example of rebellious youngsters who boast of having broken the fetters and smashed the barriers that forbade them a harmful liberty. Set before your eyes instead that he who takes longer to ripen, ripens the more solidly. Our example here is the comparison between man and animal: the span man takes to reach maturity may be the whole lifetime of an animal — and that is why he is the highest and noblest of creatures.

One of you may believe that his parents keep him from enjoying absolute freedom and happiness, whereas their whole concern is to make you happy and to make of you strong persons who meet hardships with steady resolve and a bright smile.

I know many companions at this stage of their lives. Let us take as our example Salma and her brother Jamil: they stand in constant hostility to their parents, resenting them as if forming a line of defense against the very parents who wish for nothing but their well-being; and by this stubbornness in their position they tear down their characters instead of building them up. Jamil demands a great many rights and flares up when he fails to obtain one of them: he wants his father to hand him the car whenever he pleases; naturally the father will refuse, and the son knows that this refusal is for his own good, yet he strains the situation and adds to its confusion.

In such a case you must convince your parents in practice that you have become capable of taking charge of a machine as dangerous to handle as an automobile. The advance of civilization lies in the shield of mind and spirit; and in our age the world sets no store by religion, while we stand in the greatest need of hearing the sermons that refine the spirit, to shore up our faith and our confidence in ourselves.

There is another opportunity that will not return if you let it slip, young one: the season of learning. So draw from the seas of knowledge all that your mind can absorb, for you can find no place in this world if you do not learn. Train yourself to steadiness in study and inquiry — and in this I do not begrudge you your hours of fun and enjoyment. One of the pleasures that must not be lost is the reading of good books; the love of reading is not born with a person, but acquired. And shun cheap reading, which poisons the mind and shows you life other than as it truly is: there is no pleasure to equal that which the great minds offer us.

A friend once said to me: if a person spent a quarter of an hour a day reading, he would read a million words a year, or seventeen books; and nothing adds more to the relish of life than keeping company with its procession.

Mistakes will occur in your work, but strive to correct them yourself; and forget this grudge against your parents, valuing their love and tenderness and all the effort and care they have spent for your sake. And I assure you that the world before you is a closed oyster-shell that cannot be opened without the proper tools, and they are: learning, love, and respect!