I just posted this on my Facebook:
When it seams as if all you hear are horrible things, awful accounts of violence and sickening events...remember all is not bad in the world. Look for the beauty and the peace and the people who love unabashed. Look at the teenagers who are curing cancer, smiling through horrible times, writing poetry and still have hope. The world is not as awful as it seams...The change in the world, the beauty, starts with each of us.
But I felt like there was more to my statement. This week, I have read at least 10 articles about horrible things that have happened in the world involving teenagers. I have read an article about 3 kids who were bored and shot an athlete, I have read a story about kids who broke another kids arm and yet another that states that a group of teenagers beat an 88 year old man, who defended our country, to death. It honestly makes me want to vomit. It makes me want to curl up inside my home, crying and just wait for the end. But then I remember, there is more.
Sensational, horrible news is less than 10% of what happens in the world. There are teenagers curing cancer, developing products that we will use well into our retirement years, and there are teens every single day making a huge difference in the lives of everyone around them. Those teens grow up and become "us". When my son died, and all was lost in the world, the one thing that I remember that keeps me going on those dark, dark days is kindness and hope. That there is goodness & kindness in the world still. His schoolmates, his friends - they all reached out. All of them. Even if they did not know what to say or do. They reached out and shared a word or a story with me. Most of the grown adults I know, were unable to do that. They didn't know what to say, so they said nothing. These kids could not be silenced by "etiquette" or "saying the wrong thing." The youth of the world are polite, they are considerate, they are hopeful, they are caring, they are full of ideas and beauty. They are full of creativeness and have not been beat down by life yet. They are fresh and energetic and passionate, because no one has told them they cant be. What a disservice we do to ourselves and to the world and to these kids when we squash those things. We attended a memorial at my son's high school days after his death. I really don't know how. I don't know how I got there, or stood up in front of those kids, or spoke. But the thing I took from that experience is what I needed most. Hope, Love, Kindness. Those kids came from different backgrounds, had lots of their own problems, did not know me, some did not even know my son, but all of them reached out, said a kind word and took something from the experience. They might not have all been eloquent, but they all possessed true caring and generosity. Some were more in tune and sensitive than many adults I know. I have had the gift of knowing some of those kids more in the last few years, and I am better for it. I have said many times, that we are blessed to have this generation to turn our world over to. They will make a difference. Yes, there are the bad events, yes, there are even some bad people. But those have always existed. WE can choose to talk about all the awful things that happen, or WE can choose to point out the kid who is a first generation immigrant, who takes care of her family so there is no time for social or athletic events and yet manages to get straight A's and get a scholarship to college. WE can choose to rave about the teenager who is working on identifying certain cancer strains earlier. WE can choose to point out the kid that should have turned out "bad" but chose to rise above and do better for himself and his country. WE can choose to point out the kid who brought a smile to the face of someone who desperately needed it. WE can choose to talk about the kid who volunteers after school and weekends because they KNOW they can make a difference, even if it's in the life of just one person. WE can choose to talk about all the kids every day who make good choices and do the right thing. WE can choose to admit we weren't and aren't any better. So instead of bashing the next generation, why don't we give them a hand. Tell them how wonderful and truly unique they are. That they aren't all just products of bad parenting, bad environments, or a bad world. The world can be whatever they make it. And we can help. It's not too late.
