While giving a talk at one of our local high schools, I could tell that a few of the kids really enjoyed hearing about all the opportunities to get out and enjoy our great outdoors.
It was comforting to know that some had parents and grandparents who loved the outdoors and passed it on to them.
Some of the kids acted uninterested. They were probably thinking about what they would be doing after school, or just wishing they were somewhere else.
Anywhere else! Having to sit there and listen to this old man talk was boring to them.
During a question-and-answer period, it struck me that the majority of these kids knew very little about the outdoors.
These kids, like so many others, had grown up with only one parent, or a mom and dad who both work and don’t have time, or take time, to get them involved in outdoor activities.
They have grown up with smartphones, computers, video games, and television as a babysitter.
They have grown up not knowing what it is like to spend the day exploring our many streams, lakes, fields, and forests.
They have grown up in an electronic gadget, fast food, disposable, throwaway society with little respect for our wildlife, our environment or, even their own parents.
It is sad to say, but some of these kids are growing up in a world where our government has enabled generations of their families through assistance programs.
Some of their parents have no desire to work as long as the government takes care of them. The system is broken.
As I drove home that day, I thought about how some kids are constantly searching for things that give their lives direction and a sense of belonging.
I thought about how that search has led to teenage suicides, drugs, and alcoholism instead of fundamental values such as love of family, God, respect for living things, and creation. Values that are basic to lasting contentment.
How had my kids and grandkids avoided the problems other youth faced? How had they grasped the understanding of basic values that kept them out of trouble? How had they turned out to be good kids?
The answer was time. The time my wife and I spent with our sons. The time we spent taking them to church and to school activities.
Time spent giving them a basic interest and respect for the outdoors. We listened to them and encouraged them. We were there for them in the good times and the bad.
When our sons married, their wives’ parents had done the same thing for them. It was natural for them to raise their kids the same way they were.
I have no doubt that when our great-grandkids come along, they will be brought up the same way.
Some families that depend on the government will continue for generations to come. They will do what they have always done.
Something needs to happen to change that. Politicians want you to believe they support these programs to help them, and some do.
I personally think some are doing that to enable these people and gain their votes so they can continue to be career politicians.
My hope is that something I had said that day would encourage the students to get involved in the outdoors.
I pray that the parents will realize just how important these young lives really are and make a difference in some way.
It is never too late.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
“Nature is a tool to get children to experience not just the wider world, but themselves.” – Stephen Moss
(Larry Whiteley can be reached by email at larrywhiteley2@gmail.com or by text at at 417-830-9023.)
