Kids Are Good

This really needs to be presented to you as a video.  It came to me that way and I hope to be able to show it to you also, but not today.

Today, I just need to tell the world that kids of all ages can be good, creative and caring.  I am taking the term kids to its extended limit because I am referring to college "kids" in this story.  We seem to hear only about the drugs, the rapes, the car wrecks, the frat/sorority parties gone wrong, the fixation with clothes carrying certain labels or the drinking.  These are realities, but do not pertain to all.

I just spent two weeks on a state university about 30 minutes from my home.  One week was to prepare for the second week. The crowds from previous years were discribed, the tension caused by the high costs of the textbooks and the other teaching materials required, the anxiety of the students beginning a new semester and the 9 to 12 hour days required to handle all of that.

I worked in a textbook store where most of the texts are sold for the university's ever-increasing number of students both pre and post graduate.  There may have been more strain this semester because of the economy.  Many of these students came from homes both average and affluent where sacrifices had to be made for education.  The cost of a backpack inspired creativity in book toting and I saw some clever renovations of purses and book bags and camping packs.  No matter, the student is the important element.

This university's student union is the largest in the nation and will begin renovations very soon which will improve and update an already effective structure. It is big....really big.  Students had trouble finding the right rooms or service areas or the post office or computer study areas. They did not, it seemed, have trouble finding the food areas.  They asked for instructions to locate every conceivable room in that huge building, but there was never a questions, not one, about where to find food.

The energy level reached an almost visible point about mid-day each day.  The students were excited and nervous and some were scared.  They had expectations which allowed no time for negatives.  They had a schedule and everything had to be made available to them so that schedule would be met.  Please don't tell them that a book is unavailable or a class closed.  Whatever their motives, they were ready to go and knew where they were going.

There was also an amazing lack of presence in their surroundings.  They were on their phones either talking or texting; they were plugged into their pods; they were entering data into their notebooks and laptops.  They needed to be brought into the physical world  on occasion and looked surprised when their name was called or a request was made for ID or credit cards. 

I thought some students were going to pass out when the register totalled their charges, some seemed about to cry, some looked at the parent with them to determine the parent's reaction before releasing their own and some were almost giddy with relief when the total was less than expected.  However, not one student was rude, snotty, crude, flip, uncontrolled, etc.  They were great!  Each one was courteous, pleasant and helpful.  They signed and checked whatever and whenever required.  They walked away with bags equalling 25% of their own weight without complaint.  They stood for 30 minutes or more without aggravation being noticeable.  They smiled and made jokes and offered help to others and were patient almost without exception.  Parents would have been very proud.

I came home the last day of campus work to see a video on NPR reflecting the same kindness and concern for others that I had just seen on our local campus.  The video was from UCLA and involved an unknown number of students as only three played an active role.

The subjects were a mother squirrel and her adolescent-size child.  She casually jumped a 4' solid concrete wall which was in their path.  The child squirrel sat by the wall for a while seeming to estimate his chances of having the same success.  He seemed to think they were....not so good.  He tried, however.  The wall gave him no way to get traction and no spot for taking a hold on anything.  He tried again and slammed into the wall again.  The mother jumped down and began coaxing quietly.  She was obviously agitated, but refused to leave her offspring.  He tried yet again and again.  The mom jumped back up and called encouragement from the top of the wall. All of this was to no avail.

A tall male figure appeared from the edge of the video, slowly placed a backpack again the wall and then backed away off screen.  It was an obvious effort at steps.  The squirrel immediately began to evaluate its use and made an effort by running up the pack.  The pack was, unfortunately, just short of the needed height so the young squirrel couldn't quite make the jump.

Another figure moved slowly toward the wall with a gigantic backpack which seemed to almost touch the top of the wall.  The little squirrel needed no encouragement, took a run and scaled the pack straight to his mom.  I didn't hear them, but I feel certain that there was applause and yelling from the unseen students.

We may be leaving this world in the hands of a generation of thoughtful, creative and caring people.  They just may do a better job than we have.