The Value of Children As a Youth Director in a violent and impoverished city, Ive noticed a few things. Chief among them is the segregation of fairness and opportunity. The privileged halo children who always seem to get good grades effortlessly appear as tomorrows sunrise in the eyes of society. Scores of children are labelled as future failures and become poster children for a disease called recidivism. The value of many children has been taken from them and stashed away out of sight. Children are living behind barbed wire halos, encased in a crypt of concrete adorned with steel bars. I watch teenagers go to jail in large numbers. Many are sentenced by men and women wearing robes of haughtiness, lacking compassion. They dont have a clue what its like to struggle through school, poverty or violence. The few who have had a glimpse of struggle seemed to have lost their compassion via an inflated life status. They act as if punishment instead of education is a deterrent to a life of crime. The rate of recidivism would suggest otherwise. Many young people sit behind bars for years while their cases are continually adjourned or postponed. They languish in a hopeless neighborhood of cells filled with hopeless neighbors. Public Defenders rarely visit or return phone calls. Their client is just another number in a jumpsuit. I listen to people complain about the cost of educating a child when the cost of incarceration is more than double the cost of education. Money is not really the issue, there is plenty of it. The flow of money is in the direction of the power brokers who want to make more money, whatever the cost. The answer is in the compassionate expenditure of money. Children are devalued by the focus of society. If we spend most of our funds on intervention instead of prevention, does that reflect compassion? Money should flow where your heart is. Where is your heart? The goal of Youth With A Purpose Inc. and Mentor Force is to identify a Mentor for every child in the Buffalo Schools. We are partners with Teachers and Parents. Through a united front and a repetitive message, all children will have a Mentor. We will operate an after school/community outreach program with athletic and education facilities. We will Mentor students in the classroom. We will Mentor students after school. We will teach people how to be Mentors and Coaches. Every child is gifted and valuable. Every child deserves the right to go to college. Every child is capable of becoming a disciplined employee. Every child is entrepreneurial and motivated. Thanks for your time. Go do something nice for somebody. JLYASDW
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 15:24:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015