Being the Hope our Youth Needs
Friday, June 20th, 2008
Driving home from the ball game tonight my wife and I nearly hit a 10 year old kid on his bike. He decided he would play chicken with our multi-ton minivan. Needless to say we honked. What the hell is happening with the youth of today? I know they have been saying that forever but Sarah and I see it up close and personal every day we teach. A place it is getting particularly scary is in middle and high school. But back to my story … I flipped the car around much to my wife’s dismay since the babies were both crabby and crying since we left the game. I chased the kid into a culdesac and gave him my 2 cents worth on his little game. He said sorry and his middle school aged friends did their “chill out dude” thing (oh how I hear that in my sleep). I told him I was a teacher and if one of my students did that not only would I tell their parents but I would tell the police. I am sure they all had a good laugh at the bald guy who pulled over to blabber something. Nonetheless, that kid could die that way. I have reached down to get something and nearly hit the curb before, what if that was a kid? I was pretty upset about it.
My point of this short diary entry is not to disparage youth. It is the most beautiful time of our humanity in many ways. But we all need to be making u-turns and saying hello to the death rockers we pass in the mall et al. I just wanted to put that out to the blogosphere. What do you think about being the hope our youth needs?
