Kids these days

I did some of my training work today. Went to a school in Melbourne's north and watched my latest litter of trainees roll in. They're a diverse bunch, coping with everything from chronic fatigue to domestic situations that would try the hardest stoic.

My work educating youth tends to be on the fringe. My boss and I teach all the kids the mainstream schooling system has put in the too hard basket, and I love it.

I love connecting. Cracking really bad jokes, squatting down. Looking a young person, (who really doesn't want to look at anyone), in the face and making them feel safe. I love the way they blossom like a field of sun flowers in the light of a few kind words and some information. And I love the way they look when they taste success, sometimes for the first time, earning their learner driver permits. It's the headiest kind of high.

I can't imagine what it's like growing up today. I was born into a world of three billion people. Now we've passed seven and are lurching towards eight. This crowded planet seems to oscillate more between floods and fires than it ever used to. Refugees stream from war torn regions, from climate crises, and the competition for jobs, for housing, for everything gets steadily more intense.

I feel so afraid for today's young people, and yet proud of them at the same time. Every day these kids show up, in ways we Gen-Xers never even dreamed of.

I remember carrying a pile of papers across campus when I was still working at Monash University. A stiff breeze caught my ill balanced pile, scattering pages on the wind, and you know what happened? No fewer than three students came to my rescue. They grabbed at documents tumbling through the air, ran after the strays and returned every last page within a matter of seconds.

Kids these days teach us oldies about their pronouns, print rockets and prosthetics with 3D printers, become vegan, and speak the language of carbon footprints better than a lot of governments. Kids these days...they're awesome! All they need is a little support.

Goodnight everyone, here's wishing you a hopeful tomorrow.