What We're Leaving--A Paragraph a Day

As a teacher of high school students, it gets rather difficult to stand in front of the class and realize that the world that my generation has created--or has allowed to develop--is not a very positive world at all.  And of course, that's not my fault, but I can't help but feel a twinge or three of guilt for the messed-up world that we're leaving our younger generations.  I tell them that, too, in no uncertain terms, and I apologize for it, though my apologies won't help them a bit when they as a people are trying to deal with climate change, wealth gaps, unequal wealth distribution, lack of medical insurance for millions of people, etc., etc., etc.  Yes, there are some wonderful things that we'll be leaving behind when we're dead and gone, but it makes no sense to try to fool ourselves or anyone else--we've made a pretty nasty mess of this planet due to the greed and avarice of a select few, and they deserve better.  Personally, since I'm not a person in the public eye with great influence over anyone at all, I do my best in my limited corner of the world to give all that I can to my students to help them deal with adversity and challenges, but I can have no idea at all if my contribution will have any positive effect at all.  I feel awful about the world that they're inheriting, but as I work with them and see the enthusiasm and hope and willingness to work of so many young people, I do feel some hope for the future that I'm never going to see--or at least, that I'll never see with the eyes of this particular body.  I hope and pray that they're able to overcome the many obstacles that we've created for them, and I do my best not to add to the problems they'll have to deal with.  I'm very sorry for the mess we'll be leaving, and I hope that they're able to prove in many ways that they're better than we have been.

The Flaws in Young People--A Paragraph a Day

Don't laugh at youth for their affectations; they are only trying on one face after another to find their own.
-Logan P. Smith

I'm always amazed at how often I see older people so very ready to criticize younger people for pretty much anything they do.  It's like these older people have forgotten that they, too, were once young, and that they, too, did some really silly and crazy things.  They like to point out flaws in younger people without acknowledging the fact that most of what these young people know, they were taught by people older than they are.  I feel bad for the young people when I hear others criticize them for their actions or their thoughts or their perspective on life, knowing that these things have been strongly influenced by the older people who have been teaching them--in one way or another--their whole lives long.  Yes, young people make mistakes and do some silly things, but they have good reason to do so.  They're young, they're impressionable, and they're trying to figure things out in their lives, often without having ever learned just how to figure things out.  Personally, I enjoy being with them because they are trying, and they are doing their best.  I'd much rather spend time around young people who are doing their best to become the people they should be than spend time around older people who don't have anything better to do with their time than to criticize the young.

Are We Doing Best by the Kids?--A Paragraph a Day

My wife and I were at the store the other day, and we saw a stand for Girl Scout cookies.  We went over to buy some, and I noticed something that I had seen before in other places that always disturbs me to a certain extent:  there were no Girl Scouts there.  There were a few parents, or possibly Scout leaders, but there were no actual Girl Scouts doing the work of selling the cookies.  We buy Girl Scout cookies every year not because they're wonderful (though they are quite good), but because we want to support the organization and the girls it benefits.  But the adults are taking over everything, and not requiring the girls even to be there.  In the past, selling the cookies was a way to get the girls to contribute to their own experience by raising the money themselves, yet now it seems that everything is just given to them, without them even having to stand by a table for a couple of hours, selling cookies that are very easy to sell.  A great lesson in seeing the need to do some work and the benefits of that work is now not a part of their Girl Scout experience.  It's similar to the basketball player at my high school who sent out emails saying "We're raising money for our team--go to this website to make a contribution with your credit card."  When I think of the other students who are actually doing some sort of fund-raising work, it's fascinating to me to think how the actual work is now not a part of fund-raising.  It's a shame to me, because there are many important lessons that these young people aren't learning that we used to learn at a young age, and that's going to be a detriment to them somewhere in their futures.