ADOPT A 17 Year Old Today!
Surely someone you know is 17
I remember 17
Some days very well
On other days
Not so much on how I might remember
It looks different looking back
when you are 68
Seventeen Magazine
I think it was my first subscription
An eye for fashion
I did not have
But promising 18 was good enough
Like I said
Do you know someone girl or boy or
deciding in between non-binary my grands say
Needing a word
A hug
A sign of possibility and encouragement
A smile
What might they be planning for their 18th birthday
Spending time with them might make your day
I have been taught to resist the urge to speak
Listening and time so often in short supply
A sense of urgency looms large
Loneliness I’d say when you haven’t spoken to any one in a while
Surely you know someone who is 17
They know how to make your cell phone work
Ask them to help you make sense
Of things
What might they really like
for their birthday
a party perhaps
Or not
Listen closely
May be something or someone you can easily provide
Something you would not have thought of
Something to look forward to with you
Dreams deferred or other things on hold
Kindness last seen exactly when
Surely you know someone who is 17
Introduce yourself
Then smile
A pregnant pause
May may may
maybe be you already know their mom
in ways they don’t
Or their dad or their grands or auntie or their uncle or their teacher
Or you know their friend
Or the one person they don’t have
You thought everybody did
Hands an exclamation point
up in the air
Their mom
Their dad may need a friend
A handheld
Surely someone you know wishes why
Wishes today
they had a seventeen-year-old
Something to look forward to
To not worry about or for
Surely you can make space
Surely there is someone that you know
That needs you now
I for one so appreciate you
Do you remember
How did you celebrate your 18th birthday
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Resources..reflections….
Other stuff in the news yesterday and today just 40 days after Easter rising from the dead
“The gunman in Tuesday’s elementary school massacre was a lonely 18-year-old who was bullied over a childhood speech impediment, suffered from a fraught home life and lashed out violently against peers and strangers recently and over the years, friends and relatives said.”
How did you celebrate your 18th birthday?
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2022/05/i-never-promised-you-a-rose-garden-review/629941/
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2022/05/parenting-teens-pandemic/631639/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/25/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-gunman/
https://www.upworthy.com/dinner-with-dad-tiktok
There are 19 dead schoolchildren in Uvalde, Texas, as of this writing, along with two dead adults and the dead 18-year-old gunman. Several other children were injured in the shooting on Monday at Robb Elementary School, including a 10-year-old in critical condition. The gunman also shot a 66-year-old woman whom authorities said was his grandmother. She, too, is in critical condition.
