Wisdom of a Teenager

Many years ago, I owned a company called Hope Through Education which had a division called Growing Peace. We created prevention programs for alcohol and drugs as well as prevention of violence.

I will never forget a young girl – high school age – who was at one of my lectures and raised her hand to say, “You adults always talk about the fact that we (meaning her peers) are the future. But you always seem to forget that you (adults) are our present. And… you are not doing such a good job with it.” She was right in the mid ‘80’s and the same could be said for today.

When we say, with a smug or pompous tone, “what is this world coming to?” we try to convince ourselves that if “those” people would just behave, then “ we” would be fine. Those people are defined in various ways depending on your point of view. They could be Democrat, Republican, or Tea Party…they could be Catholic, Muslim or Fundamentalist …they could be Black, White, Latino, Native American… they could be anything but what we are.

Do we really want our children to grow up to be like the preacher in Florida who doesn’t care if he creates an international incident because he had the right to burn the Koran? Would you be proud of your son if he began to emulate Charlie Sheen? How about if your daughter turned out like Paris Hilton?

Here’s the news hot off the press! If we want our children to be different, then as Gandhi said “we will have to be the change that we want to see in the world.” We will have to listen when we would rather rant, we will have to be kind to those we would rather scream at. We will have to be the example of level headedness the next time we find ourselves in a volatile situation. And we will have to do this where we are… like the soccer fields (there is nothing as ugly as a pissed soccer parent) and grocery check-out lines (so they have 11 items instead of 10) or turning off the hate-speak that is currently on in your living room.

I will never forget that young woman. I hope she has gone on to be a great example to her family and community. I know that that day, she was what everyone in that room needed to hear. Maybe she is still what we all need to hear. How are we doing at creating the present we want for our children’s future?