“You’re born, you live, you die … that’s it! That’s why people should just do whatever the f*** they want.” These were the exact words of a young man I had a conversation with a few months ago. Having experienced a little too much of life at a young age, along with an upbringing that I doubt I would have survived, his worldview had collapsed into a wounded and jaded, “I’m looking out for me and me alone.”
While this young man’s story is certainly unique, and not every teen has experienced the hardship that he has, what is common to many of the youth we work with is a growing sense of hopelessness. That is not to say they don’t have moments of hopefulness, or perhaps more accurately a temporary optimism, but with regard to their big picture of life, very few have a deep sense of hope. Their view of themselves and their view of the world tend to be very bleak … if they’re being honest with you.
The tag line of YFC / Youth Unlimited is “We see the hope and potential in every young person.” While this is absolutely true, what’s even more important is that young people begin to see it for themselves. How we help them move in this direction … well, that will be the subject of tomorrow’s blog. But for now I can tell you that it doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in community.
About a year ago I attended a seminar that was addressing the topic of behaviour change amongst children and adolescence. At one point during the lecture, the speaker made the following comment: “After 50 plus years of neuroscience and studying how the brain works, we know one thing for certain – no one changes apart from relationship.” For me, this was the proverbial “mic drop” and I heard little more of the lecture after this statement. How profound a truth this really is:
NO ONE CHANGES APART FROM RELATIONSHIP!
As we seek to be a community of hope for today’s youth, I invite you to PARTNER with us. Not everyone can be a youth worker and not everyone can volunteer at the youth centre, but EVERYONE can genuinely make a difference by making a small donation.
Please click below and partner with us!
https://yfcmilton.com/one-hundred/resoul-spring-fundraiser-2/