Vidas Bareikis – about “rebellious” youth: authorities, parental love and an important lesson for his son | Names

Vida, you will be participating in the VibeLift festival for the fourth time. How does it feel to interact with thousands of young people?

I like arena events, especially the energy there. Although I cannot make individual contact, I can spread my message to a large audience. My mission is to reach as many people as possible to whom what I say resonates. It happens that after the festival or other meetings, I get messages, young people share what they understood, what they took away. I think this kind of sharing makes a lot of sense.

Let’s think back to your youth. What kind of student were you?

I had two sides. On the one hand, I was a class activist who organized events and brought people together. And the other side is the one I’m not so proud of – I was a rather “hang-out” child, I wasn’t a gift for teachers. I was most successful with teachers who controlled me and understood my psychology. I went through everything that is normal for students – parties, sometimes skipping classes, ups and downs in relationships and experiences at school, but I wouldn’t do any serious pranks. I had a rather sharp character, maybe with a high ego, so it was difficult to get down in discussions. I was asking why it is necessary to do exactly this way, if there are “n” ways to do it differently. Of course, I now regret it a bit, because I understand that there is a system that teachers work under, and there are also some classes where I wasted my time because of these qualities.

I remember very well my history teacher, who used to tell us what topic we were going to study and said nicely that if you are not interested, you can not go to class. He only wanted to work with those who were interested. He explained the whole story very clearly and humanely. It was this teacher who was able to reach students and found a way to my heart.

You are raising a teenage son, Ada. Did he inherit the “rebel” trait?

He is known to have sharp character traits because he is our child after all. But Ada’s mother and I explained to him at home from an early age that you need to respect others. We taught him that before he wants to say something to the teacher, he should think that it is his relative – father, mother, grandmother, grandfather. Would they do and say that then? It has happened that when Ada returns home, he admits that he did something wrong, but later, when he comes to his senses, he writes to the teacher and apologizes. I think this is already a good attitude of a child. Adam is a man who systematically moves towards his dreams. We have an agreement that he studies not for grades, but for knowledge. If he doesn’t get top grades in things that aren’t that important to him, it’s definitely not the end of the world.

What shaped your personality in your youth?

First of all, I think it all starts with family. How can a child respect a teacher at school if he, for example, does not respect his father who left him? And the statistics, unfortunately, are very sad – when I taught at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater, I had a group of 24 people, of which quite a large number of families were divorced. Secondly, I think that if you are not successful with your family, it is very important to find your authority in another environment, at school, in groups. It also shapes the personality.

I’m glad I had both loving parents who told me not to do what I wouldn’t want others to do to me. Also, Dad always said to be honest with yourself and others. I always felt infinite love from my mother, that cup of love was completely filled – my mother always flattered me and told me how she was waiting for me, because she could not conceive for a long time. There was never a doubt why I was needed in this world.

Well, the MKČiurlionis School of Arts taught me work ethics and discipline – from the first to the twelfth grade dividing my work into pages, lines, measures, individual notes. Like learning a piece of music: if you can’t overcome everything at once, break your tasks into smaller, manageable stages. My schedule was organized in minutes, from getting up at six in the morning to going to bed at ten at night after all the tasks of the day. I lived like this in the academy, later as a master’s degree, and so until I was 35 years old.

Vidas Bareikis as a child

And what kind of music were you listening to at that time? After all, the taste of music often contributes to the formation of personality.

The school was shaped by classical music, it was my daily bread. I love the classics, and I still come back to them often. It is different, harmonious, closer to nature. I will rest from her. But in my spare time I was shaped by hip-hop culture, rap music. From all the patriarchs – Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem. It was the music I used to play sports and play basketball with. I spent my entire adolescence in this culture.

Although we are not yet a fully liberated country, the youth these days are getting bolder. And here there is a slippery line between freedom and provocative audacity. How not to cross it?

I don’t have an answer, but I do have a suggestion. In this rather self-centered society, I would suggest that you consider the other with your statements about your individuality. Because usually it is related to someone to whom you appeal – the teacher to whom you express your rights, the followers to whom you speak on various issues. I will always be in favor of freedom and I don’t think the line of freedom has been crossed yet. There is still a lot of incarceration in Lithuania, we are humble, coming from a culture of imprisonment. There are many complexes and closures, few people who speak their mind.

I travel a lot through schools, communicate with young people. Children are really still very stressed. Boys are bound to certain masculine standards, unconscious norms. Girls to the other side. They are told over and over again that they must be neat, not jumpy, study well, and be like that. Some children are so timid and repressed that it is sad to see. Many years must still pass since that ill-fated period of occupation of Lithuania, which formed those fears and complexes.

Vidas Bareikis as a child

Every year at the festival you surprise the youth – last year you even poured a bucket of “lake” water on yourself on stage. What to expect this year?

This year I will be talking about creativity and the creativity gene. I am interested in analyzing this and want to share with the students how important it is to read a lot of books, watch good movies, visit exhibitions, performances. Their hard drive needs to be filled – if you want to be creative, you need to fill yourself. This is what I will try to tell the young people about, and by what means – you will see (smiles).