Back at home, we talk of unemployment rates among fresh graduates. We probably think we are alone. We aren’t.

Outside our little comfort zone called Malaysia, France is facing its worst riot in decades. I’ve been following this story with interest, not because I’ll be visiting Paris + Lyon in December but because we could, as young people, stand to learn some lessons from it.

For the last thirteen days, teenagers have taken to the streets in a lot of suburbs around the country, burning gyms, factories, cars and shops. Why? First, it started off as a protest when two teenagers who thought they were being chased by police hid in a power station and got electrocuted. (In the first place, one should stop to ask why were they running away from the police and why were they stupid enough to hide in a power station?) As the days went on, it become apparent that these young people were throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks (perhaps anything they could get their hands on) because they were angry that they were living in poverty stricken areas where drugs, prostitution and crime are at an all-time high. Because they were angry at being discriminated at. Note that these ‘rioters’ are all French citizens of Arab or African descent.

I ask you this:

Do these rioters have a right to be angry when they don’t have the motivation/desire to want to better themselves and move out of their improverish state?

Rawa Khalil, 15, has no interest in education. “No motivation,” she said simply. It is easier to become a hair stylist and marry and have children, she said.

Mounir, the 14-year-old with the burned arm, claims no desire to go to college, though in a perfect world he sees himself as a banker.

They say that they are being discriminated against BUT did they ever stop to think as to how they become French citizens? Did they ever stop to ask themselves what they did for the country? Right now, as we speak, they are 1) tearing down the image of France as a safe place for tourist thus hampering the tourism industry, 2) destroying the livelihood of HONEST, innocent men and women, and 3) destroying their own chances for a good life.

No one ever said that the world owes any of us a living. We were not born with the promise of a good life, silver spoon in our mouths neither were we born with the promise of the government giving us what we ask for. YES, sometimes a head start is what people need BUT if you don’t want to help yourself, how do you expect me to help you? Education is free in most parts of Europe – up to a certain level. Housing, though not the best, is provided on a first-come-first serve basis. Yes, living standards are high but you know what? You don’t need branded clothes or caviar to lace your meals every day. You scrimp and save. You mean all that (food, education, housing) is not enough? What about police protection, a passport so you can move around, medical treatment? Also not enough? Then what will it take for it to BE ENOUGH?

Perhaps everything or nothing.

But I ask you this.

Why are these young people making other people pay for their own laziness and unwillingness to work hard, if not twice as hard as anyone else? (By burning up a car that someone else has worked so hard to get…not to mention now he or she will probably have to pay off the loan for a non-existent car. And what about the poor shop owners?)

What makes the immigrant (actually not quite – they just come from immigrant families) so special from PURE French citizens themselves that the government has to give them MORE attention?

Did they ever stop to ask themselves what they have contributed to the country, instead of what the country has given them (apart from accepting their parents into France and giving them citizenship la)? Productive French citizens contribute to the economy in terms of labour, services and taxes. What about them?

These teenagers who sit on their butt and whine about mistreated by the government, about surrounded by poverty, fail to realize that all this while, they have:

• A roof over their head
• Food
• Education
• Clothing (honestly, I have yet to see a naked rioter)

If you look towards Africa, Pakistan (in Kashmir now) and other developing nations, you would realized that a lot of people living in these countries do not even have any of the things that these French teens have.

Okay…lets just say that it is a super duper valid reason to get angry/upset/whatever they are feeling right now. There is always a proper and better way of doing things. This just isn’t it.

On a side note, someone once told me this and it stuck with me always.

If someone gives you shit, you try and grow flowers with it. Don’t know how? Learn. Don’t complain about the person who gave you shit.

Ever heard of this quote:

There is gold in garbage.

It basically means if life deals you a bad hand, you make the best out of it/use it to your advantage.

Life is never fair, especially when you’re a immigrant. Young mature adults will know the struggles of their parents, appreciate it, appreciate the fact that they have been giving a new lease at life, a chance to better themselves. Being an immigrant doesn’t automatically mean you have the goddamn right to demand for this and that. You have to work for it, just like those regular French citizens.

The thought that these young people have regarding ‘real’ French people getting priority when it comes to employment IS hardly true. If it were so, Nil would not have been unemployed for nearly a year and he is as French as they get. These people have to stop looking at themselves as an immigrant the moment they are accepted into the country as a citizen. Why? Because as a citizen, you have a duty to your country and that is 1) be a productive citizen and 2) be a law-abiding citizen. Both of which apply to these French teenagers.

Just as how we have a duty to ourselves, our family and our country to quit whining and take charge of our own lives.

Back at home, I hear stories of laziness. Of complacency. Of ungratefulness. I hear stories about how 19 and 20 year olds (even older, mind you) see no reason to work unless it’s fun or useful in their eyes. I have witnessed how horrifying it can be for a relative of a lazy arse person who waits on his behind for the right job to come without even putting an effort into looking for a job in the first place. I have listened to complaints of people who have jobs that pay well but according to them, just isn’t enough because they 1) have to work OT or just work a lot, 2) it’s too far away from home.

Sometimes I really want to get a loudspeaker and scream on the top of my voice:

GROW THE FUCK UP AND BE AN ADULT.

But I doubt it’ll work.

I honestly cannot help but feel so ashamed of being part of this generation. A generation that whines and complains about every single thing yet not willing to better themselves and work hard ON THEIR OWN accord and effort. Sure there are some exceptions, thank God for that, but right now, it looks like there are just too many bad apples out there.

It was once said that the Generation Z (that’s young people today, myself included) would seize the world and take it by storm. This was not how I had pictured it to be.

Links:
Special Report: Riots in France
TIME Europe: France Flash Point
PM: France ‘at an hour of truth’