Help Youth Today, Ensure a Brighter Tomorrow

Do you have faith in today’s youth to carry this county, state, nation and world to a better tomorrow?
Can you envision that little girl learning to ride her bicycle down the sidewalk as the surgeon you will entrust your heart to I n 30 years?
That lad across the street, the one who is always showing off on his skateboard, who gets on your nerves on summer evenings as he tries to “get air” with his board, can you imagine asking him for a loan at the bank in 20 years?
Or what about that little brother and sister from two doors down who can’t speak English very well, but who wave and smile at you when you head off to work? Can you imagine them as owners of a store where you shop for food in a couple of decades?
Regardless of our personal likes and opinions, those young people will run our world as we head off into the sunset years. They will be the ones to whom we complain about taxes and trash collection, potholes and toll increases.
That said have you done any, the slightest move, toward helping them become tomorrow’s leaders, middle managers, dentists and mechanics?
This Saturday, from 8 a.m. until noon, at Middle Township High School’s cafeteria, there will be a fund-raising breakfast for the local organization, Children United to Resist Temptation.
Yes, this is the same foundation, founded by Rev. Patricia Anderson after the untimely death of her son, Curtis Davis. That young man was killed as he attempted to cross the Garden State Parkway the easy way, not using the overpass.
Out of bitterness born of her loss, Anderson conceived the idea of an organization that would help local boys and girls resist things that could kill them.
It is the same foundation that annually, on the Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, before school opens, holds a prayer walk to each Middle Township public school.
For full disclosure, I have taken part in each of those walks since the first one, so from personal knowledge, I know that Rev. Anderson’s motives are pure.
Proceeds from the humble meal of creamed dried beef, hot cakes and sausage, muffins, juice, coffee or tea ($7 for adults, $3 for children) will benefit the youth of this county.
Entertainment for those dining will be the Middle Township Step/Dance Team.
The school is located at 300 E. Atlantic Ave., Court House.
Anderson knows that one-on-one interaction with youth, especially teens, can be challenging but, oh, so rewarding.
There are many young people who seem to us older folks, menacing in the way they dress or act, but Anderson knows much of that is a thin veneer to cloak adolescent insecurities.
Keep in mind; these are those writers and sales clerks, managers and engineers of tomorrow. They long to learn the right path for their lives. They, truly old toddlers, are just starting out on their pathway through life.
None of them wants to grow up to be a failure. As a garden left untended through summer that fills with weeds, a young person’s life that has no tending, no care, can soon fill with ugly weeds.
No child ever aspired to be drug dependent or a criminal with no hope but to die in prison.
Our society needs more adults like Rev. Anderson, who reach out to teens crying out, and that is really, what most are doing, for attention and appreciation.
By the time next week’s Herald is printed, the United States will have a new president.
In these pre-Inaugural days, I looked through some quotations, especially those of President John F. Kennedy.
At the threat of sounding trite, allow me to reprint one of his more famous acclamations: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
Maybe we ought to paraphrase Mr. Kennedy’s words. And so, my fellow Cape May County residents, ask not what today’s youth can do for you; ask what you can do for today’s youth.”
As the leader of the Say Cheese 4-H Club, a fledgling group of budding photographers, I can attest that there are many good youngsters out there who long for special skills we adults have to offer.
You can play many volunteer leadership roles, regardless of your age or education level.
Sometimes just your ability to discuss things you have done in certain situations may help a young person. Other times, they may be impressed by what you have done or created, from cakes to woodworking, painting to fishing ability.
Do not expect money as payment for your time. Expect something far more valuable: The knowledge that you helped guide just one young person into the road they will take to their future. The paybacks will be enormous today and, more importantly, tomorrow.