Like swallows, the young return to the West

All across the region, like swallows, our young people have returned for the summer. Going away is a tale as old as time in our part of the world. Each generation experiences it a little differently, but the basic elements don’t change. Once upon a time, it was emigration as soon as you hit adulthood. Education didn’t change the story of leaving, but it became much less final.

Nowadays, when a huge portion of our young people from the west hit 18 or 19, they spend their days away in college when the days are short. As the days lengthen, many come back.

The days were longer when I used to make that journey. Back in the 1990s, most colleges didn’t finish until June. Now, many are finished by May Day or not long after. It’s quite the stretch between now and the return to college in September.

Coming back for the summer after you first left home for college is a very interesting moment in the life of a young person. Having flown the nest, sometimes easily, sometimes with the queasy feelings of homesickness, you then come back. Not for a weekend, but for a long stretch. You’ve cracked the homesickness, you’ve made new friends. You’re changed by the experience and yet here you are, back home.

It's not just you that has changed. The world has kept turning even in your absence. It’ll be the first time in your life you will hear locals beginning to describe you as not quite of the locality. It’ll only be a hint at first, almost undetectable, but it’s there. You’ll hear it a little louder if it’s Dublin you went to. You’ll hear a little reference about the weather or about how quiet it is in November, and what they mean is that ‘you’re gone’. And the summer is quite possibly only a temporary interlude in that state of being gone. For a summer spent at home when you’ve already gone to college is a staging post for a bigger decision that lies ahead. Where am I going to make my life? Home, or away?

Now that might seem like very dramatic stuff and much too heavy for a 19 or 20-year-old to be dealing with. And that’s of course true. But like so many things in life, being heavy don’t make it wrong.

Notwithstanding all that, the summer back in the west when you are in college can be a great blessing. Those who love you are delighted you are back - and they’ll worry again about where you’ll settle when summer is over. The days are long and the living is hopefully easy. The sun might even shine. Of course, even if it does, it’s not all sunshine and flowers. Money needs to be made. Rent while at college is increasingly expensive. The days of clearing off to the US on the J1 have been made harder. Even if you do go abroad, coming back with any money has become harder still. Something that was a common experience in previous generations has become rarer.

That is partly because coming home means paying no rent, and that means a net gain for the season. And of course a longer summer now than in my day means you can make a fair few euro. Time to put that youthful energy to productive use.

The jobs that are done over the summer can seem like a simple way to make money but they are of course much more than that. They are shaping and formative and they communicate something about you. If you are a lifeguard on one of our beaches this summer, and your eyes are always peeled and your equipment always clean and to hand, what will a future potential employer think about your ability to be responsible? If you work in a fast food restaurant, and work well in the busiest shifts, what will they conclude about your ability to work speedily and be polite to customers at the same time? If you are traveling around the county making deliveries, and never miss an order, what will they conclude about your ability to get yourself organised before you head off to do a job?

The skills you learn, and the experiences you have, when you do a job on those long days of the summer will stand to you probably as much as the things you learn in the short days on the campus. In a world of artificial intelligence and rapid technological change, that has probably become more rather than less so.

And that is why everyone at home should be looking to help these young people as they figure out all this out. We know this story. We know what it means to give the young people the biggest boost we can before they head off again.

And they’ll learn in other ways too. They’ll deepen relationships with many of those who will matter to them in the long run. They’ll take on more errands for the family and learn what that means, and why it matters.

But in between all that heavy stuff, they’ll have a great time too. In playing sport, swimming, enjoying the craic. They’ll go on adventures, and experience setbacks. But even with those, with any luck, they won’t have a deep care in the world. If they do, hopefully those people around them will lighten the burdens for them.

You could be jealous of them but that wouldn’t do anyone any good, least of all you. Youth is not wasted on the young. It’s for the young. We had our days and we hopefully enjoyed them. For our young people, they will be out enjoying their salad days for their next four months, and it’ll do us all good to have the pleasure of their company while they’re about it.