The 89 and the 11 (originally published in the Central Times)

Everyday I see you kids chasing each other (figuratively) in the hallways and classrooms. Boy B likes Girl A. Boy B flirts with her, favorites her tweets, likes her pics on Instagram. Girl A talks to Boy  B, she laughs, she smiles, etc.  Boy B thinks things are going well, but unfortunately, Boy B is unaware of Boy C. Boy C is the guy who acts aloof, isn't very nice to Girl A, and is pursuing Girl D, but of course Boy C is the boy that Girl A is into.  You may be wondering if there are more girls out there-- and there are. Lest us not forget Girl E. Girl E is the girl who pines after Boy B, but he is often forgets to reply to her texts, or say thanks for the pencil she gives him, because he is so flummoxed by the behavior of Girl A.

See, it's complicated. When I see all of you pursuing each other, I draw little mental lines between you kids, and the classrooms and hallways of my mind end up looking like one of those maps they use to  track terrorists. Unfortunately, you kids are often terrorists of the heart. With your hormones, bad examples from culture, and lack of awareness, you guys can sometimes do quite the damage to each other.  Which is why that it is often hard to watch you all pursue each other waiting patiently for it all to shake out.

So for the lucky 11% of you all who actually pursued and landed with the person who pursued you--CONGRATS!!! You're a rare high school phenomena. I hope you are good to each other, appreciate each other and practice healthy relationship habits. For the rest of the 89%, those of you always chasing someone, who is chasing someone, who is chasing someone--have hope. College is near. And the great thing about college is that when girls or guys look at you, they don't have flashbacks to your middle school yearbook pictures. The perpetual hamster wheel is going to come to an end, and you will one day lock eyes with someone who locks eyes with you and there will be mutual admiration and interest. 

Be Better Now (originally published in the Central Times)

A lot of times I go on Twitter rants. I hear something about kids at school, or people in my life, that's disappointing , and I take to the tweeting-- spewing my opinions at 140 characters per second second.  There are other teachers on Twitter, and some of my other adult friends, and sometimes they ask me why I go on these rants. They imply that its ridiculous to care so much about how you kids (and others) behave in life. Their implications being that one, its not going to change even if I do rant, and  two, that we were all young once and have made bad choices. Those two things may be true, and although my rants are often rooted in my expectations of good kids acting irresponsibly or worrying about people I care and love, there is more too it than that.

You kids are going to be the leaders of the world when I am old. I know you have probably heard this before and you may be rolling your eyes already, but it is true. You all will be the decision makers that directly impact the quality of my daughter's and son's life, and I am worrying that without you all realizing it, you are messing yourselves up before you even get the chance to lead. I know it would be easy to say that every generation worries about this, and that leaders step up all the time to help the world, etc.

The problem is though that people my age and my parents' age are leaving you all a crap world to try and fix. There is more conflict than ever. There are more environmental and ecological disasters. There are new diseases and even the reemergence of diseases we thought we had obliterated. The world is going to be its most complicated ever, and many of the problems it faces will not be things that technology can solve. Beyond you kids having to be smart and creative thinkers, you are going to have to be very skilled in self control, conflict management, resourcefulness, responsibility, discernment and wisdom. Honestly, many of these things are lacking not only in your generation, but in ours. 

It isn't your fault. We will hand over to you a crap world that you did not create. We have been bad examples for you. We haven't demonstrated love well; we have abandoned marriage,; we have abused power, and stolen money from every place possible for personal gain. Unfortunately, you all are going to have to clean up all of this. It will be a big mess, and it will take the very best individuals who have ever lived to figure out how to fix it. Your generation doesn't have the luxury of farting around. If you all practice bad habits now, you won't develop into the adults who are capable of actually making the world a better place than we have. 

So, when we adults act worried about you, it's not only rooted in our concern and love for you, but it is also out of necessity. I want you all to be better than we were. I want you all to be better people than I myself have been. I want you all to be the generation that fixes so many things, and there are so many institutions and places that need fixing guys. So, I would say to you, start now. Practice being the better generation now. Don't choose easy. Choose righteously. Be better boyfriends and girlfriends than your parents were husbands and wives. Be better thinkers than your science and math teachers are. Be better class officers than your senators and congressmen are now. We all play how we practice kids, and your practice time is now --  the game is going to have many more rules and be incredibly more difficult. Make the most of your practice time.