I just got home from mentoring two young men and their dates. These guys were supposedly going to be a handful and at 17 years old, the time for rebellion is ripe. I chaperoned them but I decided to do something different. Rather than hover over them, I treated them like human beings. I have grown to care for each of these guys and if I had the right living conditions, I would more than likely consider adopting them. I thought about fatherhood today and I think my best contribution as a dad (if I were one) would be in a child's teen years. I think I communicate with them better the older they are. And apparently I do better the more bullheaded they are. These two that I mentored today were some of those kids that came from challenging situation but are at the core good. I trusted them to do the right thing and that trust was answered. They walked around the mall, saw a movie with their girlfriends and did a better job of checking in than some adults. Even though the task of staying on schedule may seem small, knowing where they came from and who they were before makes them even more remarkable young men. There are staff that will not hand them the rope to either climb or hang themselves. They safeguard them against a life that is only one year away once they age out of the program. It is better to know now what kind of character they posses. They could have gone AWOL but they didn't. They could have done something inappropriate with their girlfriends but they didn't. They did what normal people do. They went to a movie, laughed and chalked today up as a good memory. Sadly those memories should be more plentiful.
I am proud of these kids.
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