Port Moresby: Being proactive and taking initiative is beneficial for youths as they are an influential group of people who are the backbone of society and can bring about change.
These sentiments were shared by five vibrant and passionate young women representing the Marianville Secondary School as they took on the topic ‘Benefits of being Proactive’ on the Chat Room program held on Wednesday, 6th October.
The discussion focused on being proactive as a woman and in the family unit; the psychological and physical aspect; being proactive in the economical, educational, spiritual sense and also on the social perspective in terms of culture and politics with examples of being a student and its connection with young people today.
Grade 11 student, Syneil Hiriats, was the first speaker who defined proactive as taking action beforehand and emphasized on how one can control situations by preparing in advance. “Being proactive is all about controlling situations by focusing on what you can control rather than what you cannot control,” she said.
Roseanne Oa, also a grade 11 student spoke on the importance of being proactive as women and in the family unit. Giving a psychological science example, Miss Oa explained that whatever a mother feels or whatever she thinks or does will influence the child in her womb. “As women and mothers, we carry the womb of the future. when we are proactive, others look at us as role models,” she stated.
She also gave examples of single mothers taking on the role of father and mother and the proactive measures they take to look after their family unit and how it can influence children’s future.
Grade 12 student, Charmaine Kassman spoke on the psychological and physical aspect of being proactive and stressed on being mentally prepared in order to make firm decisions. “Every day we make decisions and in order to be firm with our decisions, we need to be mentally stable and sure of ourselves. We need to be strong. This includes being spiritually, physically and emotionally prepared. All these help us to be psychologically proactive,” she said.
She spoke of how the characteristic of a proactive person is someone who sees a situation beforehand and responds to it well and emphasized that regular exercise is a need for everyone each day to be physically active as it plays a major role in our health. She also stressed on the kind of substances that we consume such as alcohol and drugs that affects our body and how it is important that we take proactive measures to take care of our body.
Speaking on being proactive in an economical, educational and spiritual sense was grade 12 student, Lovanchor Dotson who highlighted the need for students to be cost-effective in terms of money, taking action in their studies and spirituality.
“Students need to be proactive in their learning. We need to take initiative as young people and being proactive is part of that by doing something without being told to do so whether it is in the classroom, in our homes or in the communities,” she said.
She reflected on Nelson Mandela’s quote: “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” and stated that whatever is learnt in the classroom and outside, has to be applied in every aspect of life.
“As Christians, we believe that in order to go to Heaven and avoid Hell we have to go through steps that will bring us closer to Jesus. We have to follow God and abide by his great commandment of love. There are many things we can do to be spiritually proactive and be better Christians,” said Ms Dotson as she highlighted spirituality.
Final speaker was grade 12 student, Nia Maraha, with her talk on the Social aspect of being proactive where she emphasized specifically on the cultural and political aspect. “Papua New Guinea is culturally diverse and with the change in times and westernization, our culture is slowly dying out. It is important that we be culturally proactive,” she said.
She urged students and young people to take an interest in the field of anthropology so that they can better understand our people by understanding the languages. She added that being proactive can preserve our culture. In terms of the political aspect, she highlighted decision-making in schools and the importance of having a backup plan.
The program concluded with the students urging the young people to be proactive by doing something without being told to and taking proactive measures in order to anticipate and solve or avoid negative outcomes in the future.
