"It's not ok..."

One of the many opportunities afforded me by my internship has been the chance to be involved with a national program that targets court-involved youth with substance use indicated. The ultimate purpose of this program is to create environments within communities that enable positive change and success in the lives of these youth. It's a wonderful program, and it now has more than twenty chapters around the country. My involvement with the program has come through working at my internship with the kids that are their target population - I will be designing and leading a focus group with some youth that seeks to find out what they need from their communities in order to be successful.

About a month after meeting with the program coordinator of the local chapter of this program, I was told that the national director was interested in talking to me about this...and that she wanted to hear our ideas for the focus group. To make a long story short, I emailed this woman, she invited me to meet with her, and we discussed these issues in person. What a blessing it was to meet with such a driven, passionate, and down-to-earth individual! I learned so much from her, and we only met for an hour!

As I listened to her give some advice on engaging the youth to participate in a focus group, I asked her to explain the motivation of the national organization in regards to this issue. What she said caught me by surprise, and it went something like this: "It's pretty simple. We believe that it's not ok for even one kid to lead an 'unsuccessful life.'" While I share her same passion for youth, I don't think this really sunk in until about a week later. The more I read statistics and hear stories about school failure, delinquency, suspension, and other related issues, the more I begin to think that there's nothing we can do to eliminate these problems - we merely try to reduce their occurrences. I fear that the nature of these stats can lead to a certain level of complacency arising in the minds of workers and care providers - we accept the fact that we can't help EVERYBODY. Although I realize it's important to keep a realistic perspective in any helping profession, I do think "reality" can damper my expectations that true change can come about in every person. The statement that this woman made reminded me of the importance of refusing to take 'no' for an answer regarding the success of our youth - "I'm not ok with the fact that some will drop out of school, become involved with alcohol and other illicit drugs, and live in poverty." She reminded me that these types of statistics should be a wake-up call to the ever-growing need for passionate, un-relenting work with at-risk youth (or any other client population, for that matter - societal failure knows no bounds). I also see this statement as extremely applicable within the church. How would the work of ministers look different if we, as a whole, weren't so willing to except the failures of some as "just the way they are"?

From this conversation, I took away a renewed passion to serve others in such a way that it could actually prevent them from societal failure. Although I realize individuals do have some level of input in the decisions they make from day to day, I also see that it's not ok for youth to grow up in a society that is complacent with their failure. Our work should reflect a dedication to effectively eliminate alcoholism, addiction, school failure, etc.

Here's hoping...