It's All about the Attitude: The Importance of Young People
Every month my development fellowship has a meeting to discuss what is happening at our schools. Yesterday, Dr. Timothy McNiff, the Superintendent of Schools for the New York Archdiocese, the largest Catholic School system in the country, attended our meeting to hear our experiences. At the end of the meeting, he offered some words of encouragement:
“If there is one thing we learned from Obama’s State of the Union Address is the importance of attitude. At the end of the day this is a people business and we are selling an attitude. Young people bring the vitality that is necessary to keep people focused and engaged. So don’t quit, stay the course, and kill them with kindness.”
Half the battle is changing people’s attitudes. From an educational perspective, when I work with students, getting them to believe that learning is important and there is a huge world outside of their community that is available to them is one of my first tasks. Of course there are real and tangible issues that affect our goals and beliefs. However, optimism requires you to see past your environment’s short comings and focus on opportunities.
In other words, we wouldn’t get very far if we didn’t believe that we could go very far.
When the optimism of young people is met with remarks that our positive attitudes are rooted in naivety, I wonder if these people ever reflect on how far they could’ve gone if they didn’t believe that they could and should achieve more. To echo the words of Rosetta Thurman, another emerging leader, “What if Somebody Had Told MLK He Couldn’t Lead?” After all he was only 26 years old when he led the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Optimism takes the shape of a movement when it’s on the ground floor:
- Persistence: Staying committed to getting the job done regardless of what comes your way
- Resourcefulness: Assessing and acquiring whatever is needed to get the job done
- Collaboration: Working with others who share your vision
Of course, more is necessary. Attitude, as I previously mentioned, is half the battle. But half is a pretty big portion. Instead of striking young people down, why not provide guidance? Why not discuss ideas and ways that they could be improved? Or why not let us learn by doing?
Hi Alison,
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Peace,
JR
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I think “why not” can be classified into two reasons. 1) Fear. I see this as a parent (even though my kids are still little): you can see the mistakes coming from a mile away, and you hate for someone you love to be disappointed, so you intervene. You tell them to wait till they’re bigger, or you tell them to let you do it. Fortunately, both my boys HATE this and it’s actually easier to let them mess up than to live with their crying and protesting. LOL
2) Worse: envy. So many of us live with the fear that we never quite measured up, and we still don’t measure up. We see young people coming over our horizons with all their hopes and dreams and ambitions… that we had once upon a time. We still have them, only we’re terrified of being overshadowed by people with more energy and fewer responsibilities (I am facing this down right now, trying to balance my future aspirations with the need to pay my mortgage, feed my sons, and make sure my husband doesn’t feel like a total loser for having quit his job.)
Some people react by not being fully supportive. By criticizing or being less than enthusiastic. Other people perceive a threat, and they attack. Worst of all are the people who pretend to help and then stab you in the back at crucial moments. (This kind of thing, by the way, feeds into #1.)
It is so very rare and precious to find a true mentor who will do all the things you are asking. So I guess the question is, how can we challenge the older generations to go beyond their own fears and anxieties, to step up and be better than impulse would have?
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@Christa: Wow thank you so much for sharing those insights! I think the first thing we can do is demonstrate how our successes are connected. This isnt us vs. them and I think this mentality is conducive to fear and envy.
We would have to push our mentors from just supporting us to being our advocates–using their influence to encourage their peers to do the same.
We would also have to advocate for older generations, that we arent trying to replace but rather reenergize. We all get older so I would hate to see any plans or systems in place the support ignoring the importance of older generations.
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