By ELSIE EYAKUZE

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Here is what I was told: Modern life emphasises looking towards ‘the future’ and planning and a general optimism that progress of all kinds is a linear endeavour. And that it will come and touch us all with its magic wand of prosperity and thus happiness in due time, especially if we work hard and keep up with technology. This is roughly the definition of the future that many of my generation were born into and are still encouraged to believe in with an almost religious fervour.

The thing is, this kind of future has a way of sneaking up on society. I realised that the future had arrived, at least for many of us, when conversations with my peers started to get nostalgic about our past and apprehensive about what lies ahead.

To be fair, cataclysmic events such as the Covid-19 pandemic have a way of splitting a lifetime into a before and after. Still, this is notable, as is the way in which younger people these days are cautious in their optimism, wise beyond their years — and concerned.

It is a rule of the news business model that if you want to make a bit of a profit, hook people in by highlighting the bad and scary things that are happening so there is a very real and acknowledged bias.

This future of happiness and prosperity? Doesn’t quite feel like it is here. Not according to the news anyway. But I think we can also admit that its not entirely the news’ fault that this ‘future’ we are living in is a bit frightening.

Aside from the pandemic, there is the constant warning about climate change and pollution, a global issue. There are everyday revelations of how technology is being used to either encroach on human labour through the use of automation or to encroach on our privacy through the use of surveillance on the devices that we are becoming increasingly dependent on.

And there is the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in various countries. Taken altogether with a few other issues like inequality, things can look bleak. Add in the effects of social media and things can look downright apocalyptic.

Fewer dying

And yet never in human history have we ever been as prosperous, healthy and long-lived as we are now. Fewer children are dying before the age of five, fewer women are dying during childbirth, clean water and food and medicines are more widely available than ever before. This contradiction is very intriguing, not least for the upcoming generation of African youth who are always a focus of my endeavours.

Like I said, I was told that hard work and optimism blah blah blah success and... hey, presto! Good future. What I didn’t factor in was how 1960s a mentality this was, particular to a certain class of Africans, handed down to by a generation that perhaps meant well but is incapable of handling the 21st century.

I love and respect the traditions of continuous knowledge where older generations try and prepare newer generations for life. Unfortunately modernity is the big disruptor. Outside of timeless wisdoms about the human condition, art, philosophy: what is there to offer if you can’t figure out a smartphone on your own?

Listen, I am not an ageist. Some of my best friends are old! But that said: how does one midwife a paradigm shift in this situation? By doing exactly what those 1960’s-flavoured Africans did rather than what they say. Stage a generational coup, in order to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world.

If you think I am being radical, please consider all the foremothers who had to adjust to the introduction of modern democracy, slavery, industrialisation, post-industrialisation, private property, electricity, modern education systems, imported religions, westernised clothing, the list goes on. Each and every one of them had to make a break with the past and countermand the previous generation.

Not erasure

I don’t want young Africa missing out on that because we couldn’t break with the past in a thoughtful manner due to so-called ‘tradition’. It’s not erasure: it is simply the constant of change. Paradoxically, that’s where the continuity with the past lies.

Old school African wisdom says that each of us is born with our own fate: then so be it. If at this point the fates of our younger ones is in their hands, I think it behooves us to let them take command thereof and listen to them. They might just lead us to a better place, or at least try to, if we raise them free to do so.

Also, because they are simply more aware of their environment than we can be, including a working definition of ‘the future’ for a 21st century.

I know I write a lot about youth and futurism, so just consider this part of my periodic reminder that as passers-by in the world we are always just holding things in trust for those who come after us.

They often understand better than we ever could what faces them. As an avid youthologist, I am amazed at how aware the younger generations are about the complex challenges and immense opportunities that constitute their definition of ‘the future.’

Most impressive of all? How much more empathetic they are than we were ever told to be. That is why I keep at it.

Elsie Eyakuze is a consultant and blogger for The Mikocheni Report: E-mail: [email protected]