Youth Today= Unified Leadership

The picture is of the graduate youngest brother in our family, from Madison year 1998. He is smiling from wherever he is after the accident took him out of the physical realm July 23rd, 2000. I had an opportunity to work a Homecoming dance eight years later and feel Jesse's presence in the midst of youth maturing before my eyes and gradually becoming adults ready to take on the world. Life is short, do it as best you can and leave nothing with regret in its wake, even your dances . . .

I have helped out in fairs, conventions, and school events in the past but this was very unique and different. Photographing the youth that will face the challenges of tomorrow was both an eye-opening, shocking yet mostly pleasant experience.

I would catch glimpses of their faces when a pop song came on, I would see their reactions when a comment was made on a particular gown and I particularly found it heart-warming that when girls feet hurt from high-heel dancing, they are the first to lend a comforting massage !

The dressed-up fashion glamour pieces girls wore were inexpensive, colorful, flattering, slimming, and overall well-chosen for the event. The jewelry was simple quite a bit of the classic pearls either worn short and close to the neck or long and hanging off the throat, was seen also as well as trendy new designs.

Some stiletto heels, others more comfortable but no doubt stylish as shoes in fabulous brilliant colors and styles danced along the gymnasium floor. These selections were worn well with these beautiful gowns.

When I recognized facial expressions I noticed not heavy loads of cake-makeup like the 50's flaunted, but rather fresh approaches to beautiful and healthy looking attractive skin.

I will put fashion, make-up, accessories and maybe esteem in appearance on the back burner, because what impressed me most is not on a Glamour magazine cover. It is right here in our schools. Today's youth care about one another, real in their observatory dialogue between them and willing to fend off stereotypical bullshit, arrogance, skepticism and keep words like hate, oppression, aggression, murder, violence and destruction out of their spoken or written vocabulary. It is comforting that compassion and honesty can still go hand in hand without too much hostility and judgemental harshness.

On the less appealing side of the maturing process this young of age, 15-18, I did notice a little too much infatuation with being overtly sexy, demonstrating some slightly hostile ownership ritualistic behavior, and of course the infrequent mouth-off about something to someone.

The sight of these young people being more physically involved with their date than we were back in high school around the 1980's, was a little anxious festering. I would like to believe that when alone they are making the right choices and here it is just for what, competition, well yes quite so.

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If our young women and men need some assistance on how to act or react to affectionate maneuvers, I probably would of suggested watching this. The idea of not being under your parent's scrutinization, without the attention of your peers, putting a decision completely in your hands, neccessitates this Video on BOUNDARIES to be on your mind, if not in the back of it. It does work for you, with you and quite well diverse young, inexperienced individuals who are facing major choices in todays society.

Overall, our next set of leaders, movers and shakers in todays young kids are rather cohesively adopting a wait-till-marriage outlook, we are going to be okay.

I enjoyed helping the photographer of the gig, a local friend of mine, in getting these students their Homecoming forever preserved on digital and hard-copy film memory. It was a plus to eavesdrop on how they will face the challenges and make this world great once again.

In the hands of the youth accepting, applying and harvesting peace, equality, compassion and unity . . . we can be better, stronger proud Americans experiecing the 'human condition'.