Wherever I walk in the world, I’m attracted to youth . . . that would be anyone from 0 to 38-years-old according to the definition we’re working with in my community.
I talk to babies, teenagers, young adults, and I sit on the floor with 5th graders who happen to wander by me so that we can have have eye-to-eye conversations. I can’t help it. It was part of my job description when I picked up this incarnation.
That scary group of teenagers in the parking lot after dark? I walk near them so that I can smile, make eye contact, and say hello. The young couple begging at the door of the grocery store? I stop to ask them what’s up in their world and how they got into this uncomfortable place. And when I see one young boy poking another in the neck (hard!) with a coffee stirrer, I intervene to remind him that that’s not a thing we want to do.
Sometimes I don’t even feel like I’m in control of my body . . . it simply goes to where they are and I’m supposed to figure out what happens next. Fortunately, it’s easy. All I have to do is ask a question and listen. Young people don’t get heard very much in this time and place. I just provide ears and attention. Piece o’ cake.
So here’s a message from a pair of home-schooled 5th grade sisters I met at Sock Summit. They’re 18 months apart but the younger one was double-promoted so they’re in the same grade. They’re on a mission to save llamas and I told them I would help.
Please visit www. AZLlamaRescue.org , and figure out how to give them even a tiny contribution. These girls walked around Sock Summit and sold sock patterns for $4 each to help the cause. I met them the first morning when they were tentative about approaching people. For good reason. The woman next to me ducked her head when she saw them coming.
I ask this of you . . . when children approach you with their open hearts, please respond in kind . . . open your heart and wallet. This ($4) was a tiny request. Yet they succeeded in making many of them and by the end of the conference, Sophia and Gianna had raised at least $1,000 for their cause.
I don’t knit socks any more. I have enough. But I bought their pattern. They’re selling compassion . . . It’s cheap at twice the price.
