Youth Is Not the Problem Direction Is a statement that sounds simple on the surface but carries a weight heavy enough to define an entire generation. Across streets, schools, stadiums, rehabilitation centers, and graveyards, young people of the same age are living radically different lives. Some are building legacies before adulthood while others are slowly burying their future before it even begins. The difference is not age. It is not energy. It is not strength. It is direction.
In many parts of the world today, youths barely in their mid teens are already making headlines. They are signing professional contracts, publishing innovations, leading movements, and representing nations on global stages. At the same time, youths of the same age can be found chained to addiction, roaming streets with hollow eyes, unable to account for the passage of days, weeks, or years. They share the same youthfulness, the same biological advantage, and the same potential window of greatness. Yet their outcomes could not be more different.
This painful contrast forces a difficult but necessary conversation. When a fifteen year old boy is playing professional football before thousands of fans while another fifteen year old boy is battling substance dependency with no clear future, society must ask itself honest questions. What separates these youths is not luck alone. It is not talent alone. It is not even background alone. It is the presence or absence of direction.
Rodrigo Mora stands as a compelling example in this discussion. At an age where many are still uncertain about their purpose, he stepped onto a professional football stage with composure that defied his years. He did not arrive there by accident. His rise was shaped by structure, discipline, guidance, sacrifice, and a clear sense of direction. While others experimented recklessly with life, he committed himself relentlessly to a craft. While some burned their nights in smoke and substances, he spent his nights training his body and mind.
Yet the intention here is not to glorify one youth while shaming another. That would be intellectually lazy and morally shallow. The point is not that every young person should become a footballer or a public success story before adulthood. The point is that every young person must have a sense of direction. Without direction, youth becomes dangerous to itself.
Hard drugs, excessive smoking, and reckless living do not usually begin as a desire for destruction. They begin as an escape from emptiness. When a young person wakes up every day without purpose, without vision, and without mentorship, the mind begins to search for stimulation. In that vacuum, addiction finds fertile ground. Drugs promise temporary relief. Smoking offers brief belonging. The street provides a false sense of family. Over time, these substitutes become chains.
Many of these youths were once full of dreams. Some wanted to become professionals, leaders, creators, or providers. Somewhere along the line, their dreams were neglected, ridiculed, unsupported, or abandoned. The tragedy is not that they failed. The tragedy is that they stopped believing effort was worth it. Direction was lost long before discipline collapsed.
Rodrigo Mora did not simply choose football. He chose consistency. He chose to submit to structure even when it was uncomfortable. He chose long term reward over short term pleasure. These choices are not glamorous. They do not trend on social media. They are quiet decisions repeated daily. That is how direction is built.
Across many communities, young people are not taught how to choose direction. They are warned about consequences but rarely guided toward purpose. They are told what not to do but not shown what they can become. This imbalance creates rebellion, not reform. Youth needs inspiration as much as instruction.
Another uncomfortable truth is that society often romanticizes wasted youth after it is too late. We cry when lives are lost. We mourn when addiction wins. But we ignore the early signs. Idle time, lack of mentorship, absence of role models, and economic despair are allowed to fester. Then we act surprised when destruction follows.
Direction does not require privilege, but privilege often makes direction easier. Not every youth has access to elite academies or global platforms. That reality must be acknowledged honestly. However, lack of privilege does not justify lack of direction. History is filled with individuals who rose from obscurity through discipline and focus. Direction begins internally before it manifests externally.
Parents, institutions, and governments must also accept responsibility. Youths do not grow in isolation. When education systems are weak, when recreational facilities are absent, when mentorship is inaccessible, society indirectly pushes young people toward the streets. Direction thrives where opportunity and guidance exist.
The media also plays a role. When destructive lifestyles are glorified and discipline is mocked, young minds absorb those values subconsciously. What is repeatedly celebrated becomes desirable. What is ignored becomes invisible. If society wants better youth outcomes, it must redefine what it celebrates.
Comparing Rodrigo Mora to a drug addicted youth of the same age is not meant to humiliate anyone. It is meant to expose a reality. Two youths. Same age. Same youthful strength. One invested his youth. The other spent it recklessly. The outcomes were predictable.
Youth is a temporary advantage. It does not wait forever. It does not renew itself. Once it is wasted, it cannot be recovered. That is why direction must come early. Not perfect direction. Not flawless plans. Just enough clarity to move forward responsibly.
Young people must understand that freedom without direction is dangerous. Enjoyment without restraint is destructive. Pleasure without purpose eventually becomes pain. Discipline may feel restrictive today, but it creates freedom tomorrow.
This article is not a condemnation. It is a call. A call to youths to pause and reflect. A call to parents to engage more intentionally. A call to leaders to invest in youth development. A call to society to stop normalizing decay.
Rodrigo Mora represents what is possible when youth is aligned with direction. He is not extraordinary because of talent alone. He is extraordinary because he chose not to waste his formative years. That choice is available to more youths than they realize.
In the end, the problem has never been youth. Youth is powerful, creative, and resilient. The problem has always been direction. When direction is absent, youth collapses into chaos. When direction is present, youth becomes unstoppable.
The future is being decided quietly every day in the lives of young people. Some are preparing for it. Others are running from it. The difference will not be explained by age. It will be explained by direction.
