By: Gregory Ducasse
Published July, 2008

It's frequently said in many circles, that change is inevitable, things can't remain the same as we become more technologically, scientifically and culturally advanced. There is definitely a significant difference in teenagers now and teenagers 10, 15 and 20 years ago. 

 As a child being raised and growing up in Kingston, I was taught to mandatorily  respect my parents, attend church, display respect to my elders, give tremendous effort in school and illustrate principle, manners, home training and true humility. I vividly recall, I had to address elders by Sir, Mam, Uncle or Aunt, there was no familiarity with my elders, there was a distinct line, which was never crossed. 

 My parents and other family members taught me values, lessons and principles which overshadowed the negative elements external of the home and sculptured me into a responsible, hardworking and civic minded member of society. 

 In today's, hip hop, callous and microwave society, a different picture is painted, generally speaking values have been abandoned and materialism, vanity, drugs and the possession of things have assumed center stage. In today's times, teenagers have very little respect for their parents and elders and are influenced by negative peer pressure devices. Their sense of priorities are misaligned, they tend to emulate elements they should be ignoring and they mostly see school as a chore, instead of an essential vehicle of development. 

Their attire instead of protecting them from disease and covering the body, is like an umbrella that hovers above and around them. I would submit, what has happened to our children?  We need them to return to the fold, as parents we have to re-instill manners, home training and humility into our teenagers. We have to remind them that shoplifting, smoking, drinking, doing drugs, lying and being absent from school, is not cool, but simply wrong  and severely lacking in common sense. 

What has happened to our children? Let's get involved and raise teenagers with integrity, a sense of right and wrong and solid foundational principles.

Tek care yu hear, till nex time.  Gregory Ducasse.