EOIN O SUILLEABHAIN,
A chara, - I refer to the recent debate in your newspaper concerning alcohol abuse in Ireland, especially among young people. In John Waters's article (August 12th), he puts forward the idea that the increase in alcohol consumption (41 per cent between 1981 and 1999) can be traced to young people's loss of a belief in God.
My first reaction to the debate, being a 22-year-old male, is that young people are not talking about this problem ourselves, that this debate has been mainly discussed by the older generations. This is itself a highly significant problematic factor in it all.
John Waters links the rise in alcohol and drug abuse to the move among young people away from a belief in God. I believe this is true, but only in the sense that young people have lost a sense of community that shares overcoming inevitable human suffering as vital.
For older generations, a belief in God made them part of religious community, a space that gave real issue to the problems that life throws at you and, more importantly, a way of overcoming them. There is no such forum for young people today. It is not simply the lack of a belief in God among people that is the cause of drug abuse - I have met very few declared young atheists. I believe that what is lacking is due to the absence of a forum for young people where new ways of dealing with our problems can be articulated.
And perhaps the Catholic Church, which proposes a theology of suffering, gave John Waters's generation such a community. But there is no place today where young people can share their common fears and anxieties. In our world of hyper-capitalism and our belief in the cult of technology, our mere human feelings, that we all share, of anxiety and fear are repressed and seen as failure. The huge numbers of young people committing suicide is the most blatant manifestation of this condition.
I believe that a return to the Gods of old that will not ease this trend. Rather, we as young people must validate the real fears that face us today, and come up with our own new language. A new way of expressing those real issues for ourselves must be found if we are to be able to name our problems and invoke resolutions.
This forum must enter into the centre stage of our national media; the cathedrals and confessionals of our age. (A great idea for The Irish Times would be to give to young people a weekly supplement on young people's issues; drugs, sexuality, gender issues etc. I can guarantee that the readership would be religious and it would get back as much as it would be willing to give.)
I write this letter to encourage young people into this discussion in honesty, and to ask the media to address this issue with reverence, so that together we will come up with a new language for overcoming our problems, and realising our potentials. - Yours, etc.,
EOIN Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN,
Newport,
Co Tipperary
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Sir, - I was disappointed to read Friday's (August 16th) editorial regarding drink and violence among young people in Ireland.
While the majority of young people in this country do drink only a tiny percentage have kicked someone into a comma. Alcohol alone will not turn a decent person into a thug and it is about time it was removed as an excuse for same.
When such an incident involves youths who have not attended one of Ireland's rugby schools there is little or no media interest and very little concern for the perpetrators. Yet when the same crime is committed by those from the more affluent side of society it is parents, alcohol, the media and marketing industries who are afforded the blame.
This is biased and unfair and certainly unworthy of a national newspaper. - Yours, etc.,
SEAN MOONEY,
Casteaheany,
Dublin 15