Work Like Crazy to Make It Happen!

   In an earlier post, I mentioned the teen curfew being enacted at an increasing number of malls. I support the idea. At the same time, I also mentioned the need to avoid painting all members of the demographic with the same paint brush. As someone who taught teens for years, I'll be the first to stand up and say they number some absolutely wonderful people among their ranks. Although I have never had the privilege to meet him, Ryan Hreljac is certainly one. He believes in a better tomorrow and exhorts others to join him in working like crazy to make it happen.
   Ryan was profiled in Reader's Digest before he became a teen, since his activism started when he was quite young. His dream has not died. In fact, he continues to work constantly to bring it to fruition for more and more of the globe's unfortunates.
   When he was six, his grade one teacher reached Ryan in a pretty remarkable way, starting him along the pathway that would take him to Ryan's Well Foundation. Knowing that 6,000 children, the equivalent of 20 full jumbo jets crashing, is the number of children who die daily from water-borne diseases was something this young world-changer could not live with.
   Says Ryan, " More adults need to start taking young people seriously. We are the future but we are also the present. Kids and adults need to work together. Change is really hard work. It doesn't happen overnight, and it works best when everyone works together." Maybe some of those teens spending so many wasted hours idling in malls could listen to Ryan's plea for involvement and start using a little of their time for something a whole lot better than any mall offers.