Looking for goodness…
Teenagers are a unique breed of humans that many of us struggle to understand. They will exhibit behaviours that seem not only ignorant and self-centered, but downright dangerous. Developmental science helps explain the “why” but it is hard to not feel a little judgmental of this seemingly insensitive group [1].
While stereotypes are rarely entirely false, sometimes we are guilty of throwing a blanket over the whole group and not appreciating that 1) there are exceptions and 2) that we were all teenagers once. I think Mark Twain says it best:
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
I’m not putting together this piece to validate or justify all the behaviour we have observed or experienced, but rather to shed some light on the fact that there are beautiful moments in life that happen each and every day. And here’s a brief summary of what I saw.
The increasing presence of individuals living on the streets of Duncan is hard to ignore. We all see it and there is no easy solution.
A couple weeks ago there was a young lady who was struggling. She has been in the area and will often mumble or, worse still, shout obscenities at passerby’s. It’s hard to figure out her age. People give her space and try not to get too close.
…there are beautiful moments in life that happen each and every day.
On the aforementioned day, things were not going well for her. She was shouting, pacing, moving from one location to another with what can best be understood as her worldly belongings.
It was around lunch time. If you’ve been around Tim Hortons at this time you know there are many teenagers. The ones that you’d say justify all the stereotypes. Loud, horsing around, smoking who knows what. Very poor understanding of social distancing and probably haven’t seen a mask before.
Things were escalating. The young lady started interacting with the teens. I couldn’t hear what was going on.
Then something unexpected happened.
One of the teenage boys came out of Tim Hortons with a drink for the young lady. He casually gave it to her and returned to his group. She quickly de-escalated and moved on.
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted”
There are some incredible people out there. Hats off to the young man. He reminds us about the power we all have to make a difference and that goodness is, in fact, all around us.
-Tyler
1. Discussing the phenomenon known as “teenager”: https://www.livescience.com/13850-10-facts-parent-teen-brain.html