And A Little Child Shall Lead Them

I guess at some time in our lives, we all reach the point where we must go through that rite of passage, that pivotal point that signifies once you take one more step you become the "older" generation. When you do, that moment in time is invariably characterized by looking at the members of generations to follow with a healthy dose of trepidation and some despair when you realize that these are the people who will take over for us. These are the boys and girls who will become the men and women who will walk our streets with shields and guns. They will occupy the halls and offices that comprise our political system. They will be our doctors, our nurses, our firemen, our police officers, our lawyers, our judges, our teachers....our leaders.


I know for a fact that the parents of those in my own generation shook their heads in dismay and alarm at the teenagers who were either swooning or trying to emulate the likes of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, Elvis, the Beatles, and...yes, even The Monkees. But as I look around me today, we didn't do so badly. There are certainly things that we could have done better had we known then what we know now, but that is the way of life. It is true that hindsight is twenty-twenty. But all in all, not as bad as our parents surely suspected.

So now it's my turn and I look out at the world today and see the violence, the drugs, the apathy, and the nightly dose of kids killing kids and I'm sure that the dismay and alarm I feel are very much akin to that of our parents.

But...then along comes stories like the two here. You read things like this and you see the good that's out there, the children with caring hearts and open minds, and then you start to figure it out. In today's world, the media as a whole jumps on any story related to a police officer or even a politician that has the slightest hint of impropriety or the smallest of missteps and it becomes headline news for days on end with complete and utter destruction of the "offending" person's character, often without real proof. There are exceptions. There are specific stations that seem to make it a point to not slant stories for sensationalism and take care not to slander the parties involved with unfounded allegations. These are the same outlets that take care to tell just as many good stories as bad ones. KRTV is one such station.

So as I read these, it began to dawn on me that the sensationalistic approach of reporting is not limited to the stories surrounding law enforcement officers or politicians. It goes across the board. Yes there are kids killing kids. Yes, gangs and drugs are rampant in our society today. That's the "big news". But there is so much more. For every kid struggling and taking the wrong path, there are a lot more who aren't. There are a lot more who are like the ones in these articles. In understanding that, I came to peace with the fact that these kids will be our nation's leaders one day. We could all learn a lesson from them to say the least.

Will I still worry about them taking over? Well...maybe a little. Any parent who has ever handed the car keys to a teenager will understand why.

Please take the time to view these two stories. If they don't give you some level of optimism about the coming generations, maybe they will at least touch your heart a little.

Belt students work hard, go shopping to help other kids - KRTV
Foothills students donate to Great Falls Rescue Mission - KRTV
 
Written: December 17, 2009