Youth As Assets—A Fundamental Point of View

How do you see the young people that you know?  Do you think of them as possibilities or pains?  Maybe if you’re honest, you think of them as both.  Young people, in our opinion, can certainly be both.  Certainly they are the possibility of the person they will become and the contribution they will make to the world.  They are also the possibility of the contribution they can make in the present.  And of course, they can be a colossal pain as they challenge everything we do. 

Let’s first think about young people in a “future” state.  As they develop the skills they need to navigate the world successfully, those possibilities become closer to reality.  In the future we would like to see youth transform into young adults who realize Maslow’s Hierarchy and are safe economically, emotionally, and physically, build strong relationships with friends, family and colleagues, and accept the responsibility for giving back to the community in which they live.  If they achieve this they will be self-actualized.  Each young person has gifts and talents to be developed, and unleashing that potential is part of the work we do each day with youth.

They also have the possibility of accomplishing a great deal in the here and now.  I recently saw an interview with a young man who responded to an inventor’s challenge and designed and developed a device that would keep parents from leaving a small child or infant in the car.  During the interview the boy commented, “If I can save just one life then it will be worth it!”  This young man is not the only youth who has made a difference during youth.  Our programs can work on developing and honing skills by actually having youth utilize those skills in service and community projects.

Then of course we can’t avoid considering that youth can certainly be a pain.  One of the ways that they are best suited to demonstrate this attribute is through challenging the status quo and the “why” behind what we are doing and want them to do.  I am reminded of the story of the Christmas ham.  The girl wants to know “why” her mother cuts off the end of the ham before baking.  The mother responds that this is how her mother (the girl’s grandmother) always fixed the ham.  When the grandmother arrives for dinner she says that the girl will need to ask her great-grandmother who will arrive soon because she simply continued the procedure her mother (the great-grandmother) had used.  When the great-grandmother arrives and is asked the question about the ham she responds, “I don’t know why your mother and grandmother cut the end of the ham off, but I did it because my pan was too little.”  This story is a classic example of both the status quo (something we do simply because it is the way we’ve always done things) and the challenging that youth do which requires us to look at our own habits and procedures with a more critical eye. 

As a positive role model and mentor for youth we have the opportunity to support the view that youth are assets to be given an opportunity to shine.  Help Entrusted legacy support the training and development of youth leaders so they are well prepared to guide youth.  Contact us at support@entrustedlegacy.org or by logging on to our website at www.entrustedlegacy.org