I don't despair about kids todaySom

I don't despair about kids today

Sometimes when I'm flying from one speaking engagement to another, I

find myself lucky when sitting next to someone who's quite talkative. This

is often a pleasant experience for me because I'm an inveterate people-

watcher.

I've heard stories of sadness, delight, fear, rivals and many other

interesting

stories.

Sad to say, there are times when I'm sitting next to someone who just

wants to vent his spleen on a captive audience for 600 miles. It was one of

those days. I settled in, resignedly, as my seatmate began his disquisition

on

the terrrible

state of the world with, "You know, kids today are..." He went on and

on, sharing vague notions of the terrible state of teens and young adults,

based on watching the six o'clock news rather selectively.

I gratefully disembarked the plane and bought a local paper on the way to

the hotel. There, on an inside page, was an article that I believe ought to

have been the front-page headline news.

The article wrote about a 15-year- old boy with a brain tumor. He was

undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments. As a result of those

treatments, he had lost all of his hair. I remember how I would have felt

about that at his age - I would have been mortified!

This young man's classmates spontaneously came to the rescue: all the

boys in his grade asked their family if they could shave their heads so that

Brian wouldn't be the only bald boy in the high school. There, on that page,

was a photograph ofa mother shaving off all ofher son's hair, with the family

looking on approvingly.

No, I don't despair about kids today.

- Hanoch McCarty