What about the kids?

The northern communities of Canada have more suicides, dropouts and domestic violence than anywhere else. I met a guy today who keeps the funeral handouts. He has stacks of them. Neatly folded memorial notes with charming pictures of teenagers on them. He had hundreds of them clipped together just so he could keep track. Kids who give up and give in to hopelessness. The media and most of the Canadian population seem to disregard the chaos. Instead we throw tax dollars at a problem hoping it will go away. It won't.

The other side of the issue are the hero's up here. In school today the hockey team wore ties---askew, single knot, double knot, mickey mouse, dad's old blue one. You could see the glimmer in their eyes. Hundreds of communities across Canada with good people and wonderful kids. But the bitter and the sweet walk hand in hand. These are tough places where kids are looking for something bigger than life. On a good day there are belly laughs in the school from guidance counsellors, principals and teachers all of whom care because hope is never gone. But hope requires us to see the world in need and to do something.....TJS