Dear Kids II

Passion is a luxury. Deep feelings are one thing but putting a passion to work for something or someone is quite another. The young woman who is generously giving her time and energy to her cause and finding a welling up of peers who feel as strongly as she, is very brave. Most of us admire what she is doing and the best part of it is seeing how strongly the young are demonstrating their passion about the future. What these young people are demonstrating over is good and beautiful and true; there is no doubt. But we live in a democracy and a philosophy is one thing but how to go about achieving a cause is the hard part. In this world, we have governments that through the voting process, determine how our countries work. Youth knows this, but what is misunderstood is the patience it takes to get things done and continue to remain in power in our governments. The people speak via their vote during election times. The hurdles are enormous in making major changes to a system, but that's the way we do it in a democracy. If we lived in places where action is determined largely by one strong, usually a man, leader, that leader can merely say the word and the deed is accomplished. This is not what happens in our free country. Climbing a mountain is not the wish to get to the top, but the work in doing so. If you have ever tried such a thing, I can say that even, sometimes after a long, hard climb, it feels both good and bad to look a few hundred feet ahead and say I know I can't make it, but it's okay, I got this far and that is my accomplishment. It is something you never forget but each time you don't get your way the way you wanted to, you think about how far you came and not about what didn't happen. While right and good should rule, it does mostly but not always. The beauty of being a teen ager is that while knowledge is present, it is so fresh and young and pure, it doesn't see the pitfalls. It doesn't have to because it doesn't have big responsibilities that include supporting a family or dealing with employment or health and aging issues. Youth has energy and will and determination and desire, but all that is not experience. Experience is the good and the bad coming together in life and the ways that each person deals with it in order to survive. Survival is how human kind evolved and remains on earth. Some of it is positive and some, not. In a democracy, everyone has a voice and makes decisions and governments by the people are comprised of all kinds of opinions, some not very wise but each may speak. It's our way. Simple, right system changing ideas don't work simply.  Sure, the clear result is what we want and work toward, but getting there isn't simple. It should be, and we all want it to be, but that's not democracy. Commerce, social issues, world problems, tax burdens all present stumbling blocks along the way to saving the beautiful globe we live in and on. I wish it were as simple and easy as carrying a sign that says "How Dare You".