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"I don't know whats happening to todays youth. They are going to the dogs, I tell you. None of them are going to be ready to lead this country when their time comes. None of them are every going to be productive the way they are going." That statement was something I heard my father repeat over and over again. Not because he thought I was going to the dogs, but because he believed I wasn't. It was part of a sermon he use to preach. I heard it every time he got a job with a new church.

Daddy wrote that sermon because that was what his grandfather use to say about his generation. My father was of course a baby boomer. Apparently according to my great grandfather, my great great grandfather use to say the same thing about him. My fathers point was that the youth of the day have been going to the dogs since there were adults to complain about the youth of the day.

If anyone was going to go to the dogs, it was the class of 1991 from Jackson Missouri. Our class motto was, We came, We saw, We left. Not We came, we saw we conquered. No, it was we left. And thats what we did. I didn't move there until my Jr. year but apparently when they arrived at the high school as sophomores, they seemed like a bunch of kids that were lost, dazed and confused, all year long. It wasn't much better our Jr. year. Trying to get the kids together to do thing, like go to sporting events, run the concession stands, that kind of thing, was nearly impossible. No one in my class ever did anything but watch everyone else do stuff. It wasn't until they informed us that if we didn't get out there and do some work to raise the money for prom there would be no prom that anyone even wiped the sleep out of their eyes.

I am a solid and productive citizen. I am a member of the X generation. I'm a parent to children who are a part of the Y generation. They are all hard working kids who know what they want and go after it. My children will be ready for the challenges of tomorrow just as my fathers generation has become. The people who use to say don't trust anyone over thirty are now in their fifties and sixties and running this country. I don't know that they are doing any better than their parents did, but they certainly aren't doing any worse. As my generation comes into its own as political leaders, (Ive only been old enough to run for president for the last year.) we will step up just as our parents did. So too will our children.

Maybe the youth of today aren't quite ready for the challenges of tomorrow, but they will be. The longer this war lasts, the more exposure they get to the harshness of the world, and the more they begin to think about the right way to get things done for a better world. The Baby Boomer's figured it out, so will our kids. My oldest is Fifteen. She has already been to political rallies, protested a bill before our state legislature, and worked for the greater good of feeding the worlds hungry. Don't dismiss them so lightly. These kids may have been pampered as tweens but as teenagers they will be getting a quick lesson in the hard side of economics and how the world really is a small place after all.

They will get kicked in the teeth just like everyone else. They will pull themselves up by their boot straps and say, not this time, world. You can't beat me that easy. They will do what every generation of teenagers have done, simply because, thats the way life works. When they are ready, when the world is ready for them, they will be everything they need to be and more. I truly believe the Y generation will do great things, we just have to give them the chance.

Learn more about this author, Becca Cougill.
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