So, I was poking around on Gateworld, one of the forums I frequent, and discovered an article about an 11 year old boy who is completing a walk from his house in Florida to Washington DC this summer. This walk is to help raise money for and bring awareness to the homeless. [link]
This got me thinking about how amazing this current generation of young teens is. My sister who is finishing us her freshman year of high school this year (age 15) put together a breast cancer walk in memory of our mother last year because she was too young to be able to take part in the Avon walk in NYC with our father, aunt and grandmother. She was rather upset my not being able to walk because she really wants to try to make a difference in someone's life. She and I both feel that if there's a chance of helping someone, a chance that what we do will save some other child from having to go through what we did, it's worth the effort. So rather than being dejected the way that I or anyone I knew probably would have, my sister started doing research. She found a breast cancer research group with donates all of the money it earns to breast cancer research, rather than the small percentage which larger, better known groups donate. My sister was horrified to discover that the best known breast cancer research group in our area donated maybe 10 percent to breast cancer research, the rest of their profits go to advertising the group. She refused to send the proceeds to any group but the one that donates all the money. She then wrote letters to high ranking people in our town trying to get permission to hold the walk. Once she got the permission, that's when the fun really started. She did almost all the advertising, got a website, was in the newspaper, and managed to get the entire thing set up, even with having been kicked out of where the walk was planned to be held. Turned out that the people who told her where she could hold the walk forgot about some sporting event that was taking place at the track that day... less than three days before the walk, she had to find a new location for it! and even so, she still managed to raise a large amount of money and brought people in from out of state. it was pretty amazing. I worked at it and everyone seemed to really be enjoying themselves and it went very, very well. She's already planning how to make next year's Ribbons For Robin walk better.

These two stories have got me thinking. This generation of children is the one the world has been waiting for. A generation where children are once more raise to be little adults rather than getting the chance to enjoy their childhood... but today this is different than it once was. The last time that children were raised as little adults, it was the dark ages, violence was rampant and there wasn't much that we wanted to really change. However, this generation has been raised to retain the mindset of a child, but live as an adult, taking on responsibilities earlier and living highly scheduled lives. Imagination is still cherished, though the games that children play have stopped requiring it so much. Children have come to look at the world in a rather critical manner. They can see this world as it is and they know something's wrong. across the world, more and more young people are trying to make a difference. more children are making a stand for what they believe in and are actually starting to make a small impact. I will admit that while watching my 10 year old sister and my nine year old brother play violent video games or just spend hours at the computer, I was not hopeful about the future, but the truth is that the change is coming from the early teens. There are so many children who are devoted to making a difference. I can only hope that this drive to help people sticks with them when they reach adulthood. we need the people in charge to want to help people, to enjoy helping people