By Major General (Ret.) K. H. Konstantinidis
The Impetuosity of Youth, the Lack of Experience, and the Price of Choices
Every generation creates its own role models and challenges those of previous generations. Today’s young people, impressed by the remarkable achievements of science and technology, often believe they have surpassed their elders. They forget, however, that technological progress does not automatically translate into intellectual cultivation, maturity, or wisdom.
Youth is beauty, joy, strength, and creativity. It is also inexperience. Impetuosity without knowledge becomes recklessness. Enthusiasm without sound judgment leads to mistakes. And questioning without a sense of responsibility can cause destruction.
Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom requires reading, reflection, self-criticism, and experience. When young people limit themselves to superficial information from the internet and avoid systematic study, they deprive themselves of the tools they need to make sound judgments.
The Impetuosity of Youth and Political Responsibility
Young people’s participation in politics is both a right and an obligation. Enthusiasm alone, however, is not enough to govern a country. Knowledge of institutions, administrative competence, experience, a willingness to cooperate, and a sense of responsibility are essential.
When dialogue is replaced by intransigence and partisan confrontation becomes an end in itself, the common good is pushed aside. Politics is not a game of appearances. Political decisions have consequences, and the entire society pays the price for mistakes.
Greek history offers painful examples. The Polytechnic uprising brought an end to the country’s process of democratization under the government of Spyridon Markezinis and paved the way for the junta of Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis. The shadow dictator, acting on American orders, carried out the coup against Archbishop Makarios. That coup gave Turkey the pretext it needed to invade Cyprus.
The price was tragic. Since then, 38% of northern Cyprus has remained under Turkish occupation, and the Cyprus File has never been opened. Instead, young people continue to celebrate the anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising, when it should also be a day of mourning and reflection over the loss of part of Greek national territory. Indeed, the example is set by our irresponsible political system, which celebrates the restoration of democracy while Attila—the code name for Turkey’s military operation in Cyprus—continues to consolidate its presence in the occupied territories, and Turkey increasingly turns its attention toward asserting dominance in the Aegean.
Political recklessness, miscalculations, and disastrous choices do not go without consequences. History does not forgive ignorance of the dangers involved, nor the irresponsibility of those who shape the course of events.
The post-dictatorship period did not resolve all the country’s problems. Democracy became firmly established, but structural weaknesses, failures, and political expediency continue to plague the country. Responsibility, of course, is not determined by age. It is judged by actions, decisions, and results.
Questioning Is No Excuse for Irresponsibility
Young people live in the present, often reject the past, and approach the future as though there will always be plenty of time to put everything right. This attitude is dangerous. Every choice has consequences, and some mistakes are not easily corrected, especially those involving our national interests.
Young people are attracted to destruction and show little concern for what might happen the day after they prevail, quite simply because they lack prudence, experience, and a sense of responsibility.
They may possess physical beauty, but their minds can be devoid of wisdom and experience. They often lack an adequate sense of responsibility and, despite appeals from their elders, fail to resist when mindless rioters, arsonists, masked troublemakers, and paid agents burn, smash, and destroy universities, schools, central Athens, and public property.
Questioning established ideas is valuable when it is grounded in knowledge and leads to creation. When it degenerates into blind rejection, fanaticism, and destructive impulses, it ceases to represent progress.
Destroying is easy. Creating requires effort, patience, and responsibility. Anyone who destroys should be prepared to answer a simple question: What will they leave behind? The destruction of public or private property, violence, and contempt for the rights of others are not acts of courage. They are acts of irresponsibility.
Democracy guarantees the right to protest. It does not, however, justify violence. There is a difference between a peaceful demonstrator and someone who destroys property and endangers human lives. Collective anger does not absolve anyone of personal responsibility.
Education and Intellectual Cultivation
The outward beauty of youth does not guarantee inner cultivation. The mind needs nourishment: books, history, philosophy, art, and meaningful dialogue. Without these, people risk being swept along by slogans and demagoguery.
Contemporary art by young artists also gives cause for reflection. In some of its manifestations, I see the abandonment of proportion, harmony, and the pursuit of beauty. Ancient Greek art bequeathed to us high aesthetic standards that remain valuable to this day.
This does not mean that every contemporary work must imitate antiquity. It does mean, however, that originality alone is not enough. Art requires substance, sensitivity, and creative power. Provocation without meaning is not an artistic achievement.
The same applies to schools and universities. Damage to facilities, neglect, and disrespect toward teachers, elders, and shared spaces reveal a lack of proper education and cultivation. Educational institutions are not merely places where information is transmitted. They are places where character, judgment, aesthetic sensibility, and responsibility are shaped.
Who Is Responsible for the Irresponsibility of Youth?
Young people are not born irresponsible. They are shaped by their families, schools, society, and the role models presented to them. When parents fail to set boundaries, when schools neglect character development, and when society rewards success without effort, we have no right to be surprised by the results.
Responsibility lies with parents, educators, the state, the media, and social institutions. We cannot demand responsibility from young people if we do not teach them, through our own actions, what responsibility means.
We should not blame only the fruit when the tree that produces it is diseased.
Society must also make good use of the experience of older generations rather than marginalizing them. Experience is not an outdated burden. It is a valuable asset, provided it is combined with an open mind and a willingness to adapt.
Conclusion
I do not question the strength and creativity of youth. I question the belief that youth, by itself, guarantees progress. Age does not confer wisdom, but neither does youth excuse recklessness.
Young people have the right to question and to demand change. They also have an obligation to know their history, consider the consequences of their choices, and resist being swept along by demagogues and fanaticism.
Progress requires courage, but also prudence. It requires knowledge, experience, self-criticism, and respect. Without these, youthful energy becomes a danger, and questioning becomes destruction.
Youth moves the world forward. Young people help defend the homeland. Prudence, however, protects it from mistakes.
Beyond providing technological education, the state has a duty to help educate young people in enduring values through schools and universities. Families and society also have their own responsibilities. Television and social media must play a particularly important role in this effort.
(27 October 2026)
Major General (Ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Author – Member of the Society of Greek Writers
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