John Parker is the director of the Self-Help Credit Union's Triad Regional Office. As we interact with others through professional or personal contact, either through words or actions, we create change. Thus, we as human beings, have the unique responsibility to ensure that we create positive change through our words and our deeds. Creating positive change is more than an awareness of the needs for changes, but rather an intentional look at our own words and actions and how they affect others. Many of the young people in the world today are feeling more and more isolated and marginalized, and less a part of the world they live in.
Violence is on the rise in the schools and on the streets.
Youth are turning toward outward acts of violence in order to deal with inner struggles. Healthy outlets are few and far between, and youth are not being taught peer conflict resolution or anger management. The good that can be found in youth and the idea of youth as our future is being stained by negative stereotypes. Still, many of us work in the field of youth development and really do believe in the beauty and strength that our youth possess. However, the one thing that each and every one of us can offer, a piece of ourselves, is so selfishly denied to the youth who so desperately need positive role models.