Even as a short term help, it is more successful when combined with behavioral changes. Perhaps the greatest outcome of the meeting was that it focused attention on the problem and showed that the long term answers were not simple or self-evident. Ritalin was not touted as a long-term solution, and this opens the door for alternatives, including healthier ways to raise and educate children, better understanding of the impact of television and poor diet on hyperactivity, and new medical treatments for the problem, both mainstream and complementary. Compared to children 25 years ago, today's children exhibit new illnesses in alarming numbers, yet there is another side to the picture if one wants to understand the children and youth of today. Many show a remarkable degree of spiritual awareness and a highly sensitive social conscience.
Many young people take a deep interest in the problems of the earth and of the poor.
Well over half of college students do volunteer work in these areas, and many young people have founded organizations which work locally or globally on a broad range of social concerns. I recently had a chance to meet some of the more well known of these young people when I attended the State of the World Forum in San Francisco. I had read the same article and was appalled. Craig, in a way typical of today's children and youth, was not only appalled, but addressed the problem directly. He formed an international youth organization against child labor.