The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1916-04-26
Big Brother Movement Should
Have the Heartiest Cooperation


In launching the Big Brother movement,
Pensacola is taking step that must and
will be far-reaching in its results upon the
community, and which should have the
hearty cooperation of every citizen.
All over the country the Big Brother
movement is spreading, and is doing such
work as may be accomplished only
through the active cooperation of men,
who, not far enough from boyhood to have
forgotten the needs of youth, can hold out
to the growing boy the hand of comrade-
ship.
The boy of today is the man OF tomor-
row. The bad boy of today is the bad man
of tomrrow. If he is your boy, perforce
YOU take an active interest in his welfare.
You watch over him and shelter him with
YOUR love and care. But if he is some other
mans son, you look upon him, if you are
the average man, as more or less of young
nuisance. If you are tolerant, you declare
that boys will be boys, and let it go at that.
If YOU are a bit straight-laced and harsh
in your judgments, you think the reforma-
tory is a good place for him, and he good
radiance to the community.
That is because he is not your boy. II
he were, your heart would brood over him
in the long watches of the night, and moth
ing would be too difficult for you to do
for him; no sacrifice would be too great
for him.
And vet, it must be remembered, that
your boy and that other boy-that bad boy
Of the community-may be closer togeth-
er than you think. 1t may be that the good
influences which surround your boy, and
the bad influences which surround that
other boy, may not have as deep line OF
demarcation as you would wish, and that
your boy may overstep that line, and come
easily under the influence of that other boy.
Or it may be that that good influence
which surrounds your boy may reach out
over that line and take that other boy by
the hand and lead him across the line into
a better, cleaner, happier atmosphere of
living.
There is no such thing as a really bad
boy There are misguided boys and mis-
taken boys and mischievous boys and rest
less boys and unhappy boys-how many Of
the latter-but there are few bad boys
Take boy by the hand and talk to him
frankly, go back few years and put YOUR
self in his place, and you will find that the
worst boy has high aspirations That they
are only bad because they have so little
chance to be good.
The Big Brother movement recognizes
this fact, and holds out the hand of friend
ship to the boy, and helps him to be man
The Big Brother movement helps the other
boy and helps your boy and helps you.
When you speak of the bad boy as a
menace to the community, you must re
member that your boy is member of the
community
There is boy, and his name is legion,
who has never had a real square deal in his
life. He has been given the things that
were harmful for him, since first he drew
breath Yet, somehow, he remains a nor
NAL boy. How long he will remain so only
God knows The temptations of the city
to the boy who has nothing of happiness
IN his life, are not to be measured
The boy wants to live; he wants to be
happy; he wants to enjoy his boyhood Just
as your boy enjoys his boyhood, and if he
does not have the normal pleasures of boy
hood, he will go after other pleasures that
are not normal
That boy has been defrauded of his right
through no fault of his own, and it is up to
you to help make it up to him. It is up to