Everyone knows that I am passionate about saving our youth from going down a disastrous path that leads to a future of more despair and agony than the present which is why I write about the issues plaguing our youth and what we as Americans must do about. However with there being many battles for us to fight in this war on our youth, it is one battle that hits home to me which is our kids today need people who care. I know that we have all heard this before but I say this because I was a meeting recently dealing with a bond proposal that is going to be placed on the ballot of the City of Detroit to vote on which would give more given toward my alma mater school district that has failed at managing its own money no matter if the state has control of it or us the citizens.
Nonetheless, I say all of this because a young man begin to speak at the event about not the topic at hand but about funding programs in education and how people want to help the youth but they can’t do it for free. Someone needs to pay the people. Now let me give you some background on the young man who said this exact comment based off how he introduced himself to the crowd. The young man is probably no older than me meaning he could be in his late 20’s or early 30’s but he is over 40. Also the young man is a slim African American with a low haircut and he said he was a hip-hop pastor at some church in Detroit and he had on a jean outfit. The young man said, "People need to get paid for helping youth because he knows that he wants to help youth but it seems like no one in the education system wants to give money to help tutor kids and implement programs that will help the youth."
When the young man finished talking, I looked at him and all I wanted to do was shout out loud, that’s what’s wrong with our educational systems today, everybody wants to get paid on the backs of our youth but what about doing something’s for free to show our youth money isn’t everything. Therefore a woman on the panel told the young minister that she is a parent liaison and is over Title 1 funds at the school. The woman begin to tell the young man there are tons of programs in DPS and other school districts that get paid out of Title 1 funds but the problem is many of these programs don’t work in terms of improving students academic standards which is what Title 1 Funds are aimed at doing in poverty stricken school districts. The young man than told the woman well I need to talk to you about how I can become vendor which is how people are able to get Title 1 funds in DPS. Now what the woman said, I agree with which is DPS and other school districts have too many failing programs that aren’t helping our youth but the main problem in our educational systems and throughout life is that our youth don’t have people who genuinely care about their well being which is what I feel whenever someone asks about getting paid for doing something for our youth. I know we can’t get everything for our youth or in life for free.
But let’s be real people and have a real talk for a second. We have all these people from pastors to politicians to educators and community activists who all say they want to help our youth and they are doing things in the best interest of our youth but the reality is that, many of them are not helping our youth. Many of them don’t spend the time tutoring our youth for free, speaking to our youth for free and giving books and supplies to our youth that will help them further their education. Let’s be real for a minute people, some of these same people who say they have the best interest of our youth at heart, are some of the same people who are living off the backs of our children.
Our youth now more than ever just need real people who genuinely care for them and are willing to stand up for them without seeking to get paid for doing it. The pastor who spoke made me feel that a young man who is not no older than man claims to be a hip hop pastor meaning he is of my generation but he seems to not care about my generation or the one after him because all he is looking out for is himself with statements about getting paid. Well I am here to tell anyone who is a part of this movement called the war on our youth that I am not writing about these battle issues in this war to get paid. I am not seeking glory or praise for speaking about the issues that are plaguing our youth. Instead people I am doing this because I was one of those youth who didn’t have much but an education to see a better future and even until this day I am still struggling to find my way in this world that is cruel to young people who are just trying to make the future better than our present and our present better than our past.
Our youth need people who care about them and I am one of those people who care. Therefore if you have a child, a neighbor, a nephew, a niece or a cousin who needs tutoring, some advice or just someone to help them figure out career choices, colleges or how to get scholarships than seek me out for free. I will help any youth that wants and needs help and I will do it all for free. I will speak to any youth group; work with any educator or community group to improve the conditions of our youth for free. This is not about getting paid for me, I care about our youth because I know how it feels to be kicked out as a teenager without a mom or a dad to go to and all you want to do is graduate from high school and move on college in order to make something better of yourself than the current conditions you see every day. I know how it feels to be poor, working two jobs while still high school and paying rent but rarely sleeping while trying to finish homework that is due the next day.
I know how it feels to wake up in the early hours of the morning just to catch a bus or walk to school in order to get there before all the other students do so you can meet with our guidance counselor in order to get transcripts and print out scholarship essays. I know more than anyone how it feels to lose a sibling and how it feels to feel rejected by those who say they love you but beat you down every chance they get. Trust me I know more than anyone which is why when I look at today’s youth, I see me in some many of them. I don’t write about this war on our youth for nothing.
This is my life people. Our youth today are facing many of the conditions I faced because I am only 6 years removed from high school but many of the problems I faced from classmates being gunned downed, girls being raped, and living in poverty each and every day as the world around you turns. I know how it feels all too well which is why I write about this war because I was one of those youth who could have been gunned down for simply walking home from school. I could have been one of those youth who thought about committing suicide because I felt alone in this cold and cruel world. I could have been one of those youth who had a child while still a teenager and I could have been one of those youth who didn’t go to college because I felt hopeless and lost.
That’s why I am tired of people trying to get paid off the back of our youth while our youth continue to suffer. If you truly care about our youth like I do than I ask you to stop looking to get paid and start looking to simply help. I plead with parents, educators and others who are looking to get assistance with after-school programs and other youth programs to seek out people who are not looking to get paid but people like myself who will the job for free. I don’t mind speaking to a classroom, a graduation class or a youth group about what it takes to succeed or what they should be working on to be successful.
Our youth today need people who care now more than ever and whenever I hear people talk about getting paid for simply tutoring our youth, giving a speech to youth or working with our youth in any way, I question what are their morals and values. I’m not saying I am better than those who do that but what I am saying is that some things in life we should not always seek to get paid for. I know it hard to work with youth who are disrespectful and rude but at some point in our life we were just like some of these youth or we know of a friend who was like that. Some of our youth today simply need people who care and are willing to work with them.
Therefore I am here to pray for our youth, lobby to them and work with them to create a better present for them than their past and to make an even greater future for them than their present. Our youth just need people who care and are not out to get paid off of them. Its time out for the bull crap people, now is the time to show our youth that all of society is not about the almighty dollar and I promise you all I want is for our youth to get the type of opportunities I had because despite not being rich, I managed to get the best because I pushed myself and I had people around me from community leaders to educators to my parents at some point in my life that cared for me and wasn’t just looking to get paid in order to help me.
Helping our youth should not be about getting paid but should simply be about doing it to make the future better than how we found our present. I speak about this war on our youth because I am still young and even when I am hopefully and old I gray I want to continue to speak about our youth and for youth as I do now because they are our future and I owe it to each generation after me to give back just as much I owe it to the generations before me to be the best that I can be while doing the best that I can do.
This isn’t much to ask of me which is why our kids today simply need people who care. So enough is enough when it comes to paying people for simply volunteering to help our youth to succeed because most of those people don’t care about our youth when the first thing they are thinking about or talking about is how much or what is in it for them. You don’t have to pay me, just tell me when and where to be and I will be there if I can make it. Our youth need us so are we going to let them now? I know I won’t, what about you?
SAVE OUR YOUTH!
Nonetheless, I say all of this because a young man begin to speak at the event about not the topic at hand but about funding programs in education and how people want to help the youth but they can’t do it for free. Someone needs to pay the people. Now let me give you some background on the young man who said this exact comment based off how he introduced himself to the crowd. The young man is probably no older than me meaning he could be in his late 20’s or early 30’s but he is over 40. Also the young man is a slim African American with a low haircut and he said he was a hip-hop pastor at some church in Detroit and he had on a jean outfit. The young man said, "People need to get paid for helping youth because he knows that he wants to help youth but it seems like no one in the education system wants to give money to help tutor kids and implement programs that will help the youth."
When the young man finished talking, I looked at him and all I wanted to do was shout out loud, that’s what’s wrong with our educational systems today, everybody wants to get paid on the backs of our youth but what about doing something’s for free to show our youth money isn’t everything. Therefore a woman on the panel told the young minister that she is a parent liaison and is over Title 1 funds at the school. The woman begin to tell the young man there are tons of programs in DPS and other school districts that get paid out of Title 1 funds but the problem is many of these programs don’t work in terms of improving students academic standards which is what Title 1 Funds are aimed at doing in poverty stricken school districts. The young man than told the woman well I need to talk to you about how I can become vendor which is how people are able to get Title 1 funds in DPS. Now what the woman said, I agree with which is DPS and other school districts have too many failing programs that aren’t helping our youth but the main problem in our educational systems and throughout life is that our youth don’t have people who genuinely care about their well being which is what I feel whenever someone asks about getting paid for doing something for our youth. I know we can’t get everything for our youth or in life for free.
But let’s be real people and have a real talk for a second. We have all these people from pastors to politicians to educators and community activists who all say they want to help our youth and they are doing things in the best interest of our youth but the reality is that, many of them are not helping our youth. Many of them don’t spend the time tutoring our youth for free, speaking to our youth for free and giving books and supplies to our youth that will help them further their education. Let’s be real for a minute people, some of these same people who say they have the best interest of our youth at heart, are some of the same people who are living off the backs of our children.
Our youth now more than ever just need real people who genuinely care for them and are willing to stand up for them without seeking to get paid for doing it. The pastor who spoke made me feel that a young man who is not no older than man claims to be a hip hop pastor meaning he is of my generation but he seems to not care about my generation or the one after him because all he is looking out for is himself with statements about getting paid. Well I am here to tell anyone who is a part of this movement called the war on our youth that I am not writing about these battle issues in this war to get paid. I am not seeking glory or praise for speaking about the issues that are plaguing our youth. Instead people I am doing this because I was one of those youth who didn’t have much but an education to see a better future and even until this day I am still struggling to find my way in this world that is cruel to young people who are just trying to make the future better than our present and our present better than our past.
Our youth need people who care about them and I am one of those people who care. Therefore if you have a child, a neighbor, a nephew, a niece or a cousin who needs tutoring, some advice or just someone to help them figure out career choices, colleges or how to get scholarships than seek me out for free. I will help any youth that wants and needs help and I will do it all for free. I will speak to any youth group; work with any educator or community group to improve the conditions of our youth for free. This is not about getting paid for me, I care about our youth because I know how it feels to be kicked out as a teenager without a mom or a dad to go to and all you want to do is graduate from high school and move on college in order to make something better of yourself than the current conditions you see every day. I know how it feels to be poor, working two jobs while still high school and paying rent but rarely sleeping while trying to finish homework that is due the next day.
I know how it feels to wake up in the early hours of the morning just to catch a bus or walk to school in order to get there before all the other students do so you can meet with our guidance counselor in order to get transcripts and print out scholarship essays. I know more than anyone how it feels to lose a sibling and how it feels to feel rejected by those who say they love you but beat you down every chance they get. Trust me I know more than anyone which is why when I look at today’s youth, I see me in some many of them. I don’t write about this war on our youth for nothing.
This is my life people. Our youth today are facing many of the conditions I faced because I am only 6 years removed from high school but many of the problems I faced from classmates being gunned downed, girls being raped, and living in poverty each and every day as the world around you turns. I know how it feels all too well which is why I write about this war because I was one of those youth who could have been gunned down for simply walking home from school. I could have been one of those youth who thought about committing suicide because I felt alone in this cold and cruel world. I could have been one of those youth who had a child while still a teenager and I could have been one of those youth who didn’t go to college because I felt hopeless and lost.
That’s why I am tired of people trying to get paid off the back of our youth while our youth continue to suffer. If you truly care about our youth like I do than I ask you to stop looking to get paid and start looking to simply help. I plead with parents, educators and others who are looking to get assistance with after-school programs and other youth programs to seek out people who are not looking to get paid but people like myself who will the job for free. I don’t mind speaking to a classroom, a graduation class or a youth group about what it takes to succeed or what they should be working on to be successful.
Our youth today need people who care now more than ever and whenever I hear people talk about getting paid for simply tutoring our youth, giving a speech to youth or working with our youth in any way, I question what are their morals and values. I’m not saying I am better than those who do that but what I am saying is that some things in life we should not always seek to get paid for. I know it hard to work with youth who are disrespectful and rude but at some point in our life we were just like some of these youth or we know of a friend who was like that. Some of our youth today simply need people who care and are willing to work with them.
Therefore I am here to pray for our youth, lobby to them and work with them to create a better present for them than their past and to make an even greater future for them than their present. Our youth just need people who care and are not out to get paid off of them. Its time out for the bull crap people, now is the time to show our youth that all of society is not about the almighty dollar and I promise you all I want is for our youth to get the type of opportunities I had because despite not being rich, I managed to get the best because I pushed myself and I had people around me from community leaders to educators to my parents at some point in my life that cared for me and wasn’t just looking to get paid in order to help me.
Helping our youth should not be about getting paid but should simply be about doing it to make the future better than how we found our present. I speak about this war on our youth because I am still young and even when I am hopefully and old I gray I want to continue to speak about our youth and for youth as I do now because they are our future and I owe it to each generation after me to give back just as much I owe it to the generations before me to be the best that I can be while doing the best that I can do.
This isn’t much to ask of me which is why our kids today simply need people who care. So enough is enough when it comes to paying people for simply volunteering to help our youth to succeed because most of those people don’t care about our youth when the first thing they are thinking about or talking about is how much or what is in it for them. You don’t have to pay me, just tell me when and where to be and I will be there if I can make it. Our youth need us so are we going to let them now? I know I won’t, what about you?
SAVE OUR YOUTH!
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