Why We Care So Much About Our Youth
We all know that our youth are the leaders of tomorrow. But there’s so much more to it than that. The world is changing at greater speeds now than ever before. Have we dealt them a fair hand from the deck of life, or are we really foolish enough to think that the issues that our youth face are all their fault? We can’t provide dysfunctional homes and expect them to just “be OK!” We adults have to clean up our acts and then help
them clean up theirs.
My parents used to say, “you can’t get blood out of a turnip”. We cannot expect our youth to produce what they do not have to give. When we have family secrets, and even worse, we sometimes don’t believe them when they tell us theirs, we’re going to have trouble. When they tell us things that have happened to them and we don’t take up for them, we will encounter worse trouble.
We can’t sit idly by and not do everything in our power to help our youth to be rescued from suicide, rejection,
peer pressure and bullying.
Did you “fly off the handle” when you caught them with drugs, alcohol or even suicidal thoughts? I didn’t know what to do either, but we must learn. My own kids are grown and gone, but now we have answered the call to work with youth in many capacities across our city and nation.
The crazy thing is….WE LOVE IT! (helping them!) We hate that they are dealing with such serious issues and want so badly to snap our fingers and take away all the pain. But it doesn’t work that way. It can take years, so please don’t snap your fingers and ask them to “just get over it.” Really it can take decades. The stories we hear are horrendous. And the more severe they are, the longer it can take. Rebellion masks itself from shame, pain and heartache.
We have all heard….”hurt people hurt people”. Well… healed people help heal people!
Patience and rejection are dealt to us on a daily basis. One day, help is wanted and then ghosting happens- they intentionally quit answering our calls or coming around. That hurts-especially when our motives are only to help!
Many times it is so powerful to ask…”what would have been needed in our own lives to keep us from going off
track so badly?” I ask people that all the time-what would have worked for you to help you stay in football, that club or youth group? It is a mystery, but most of all it’s a caring person that we knew loved us beyond any shadow of a doubt!
Grab a young person and take them out to lunch or dinner and just talk or even cry with them! Profound wisdom is remembered even if they don’t stop long enough to implement now. The seed is planted and they think about it when they go to sleep and wake up! They don’t care what you know until they know that you care!
Our company, Can You Hear Me Now, sends Motivational Speakers to schools all across America and they speak profound wisdom to students every day of the school year. We all remember that one speaker that said one important sentence that helped us to “autocorrect” the path of our lives!
And, honestly…you couldn’t shake us away with a stick! Each young person is so unique and has been given unbelievable gifts by our creator. And we find it an honor to GET to be a part of shaping and molding such an important life! And best of all…. it keeps us young, too!
By Peggi Merkey, Founder of Can You Hear Me Now