Malleability

Youth.. It's undeniably significant to ones whole life. It is.. the very foundation for reaching the sky, for catching the sun, the stars and the moon. Anything you want to be or achieve etc. all starts with your youth.. your childhood and teen years. It starts with your infancy, how your parents treat you, what you see as a kid, what you hear. Most people think it's cute when little kids or babies are using vulgar language when they can only say mommy and daddy. The truth is it's a perfect example of how the child is portrayed to be in his adolescent years and maybe even adult hood. You could imagine when kids at 12 and 13 start using profanity it get's bad... imagine when they start at 3 and 4 instead of 12 and 13(big difference). So as you can see that's a huge characteristic and the kids only gone through what 3 or 4 years of his life by now? Crazy! Anyways.. as the kid progresses in life he will start to understand people and things around him with more clarity than before. He will be effected (probably) mainly by the kids he goes to school with. Not that it's a crime but obviously kids at that age(elementary) are immature and talk/laugh about everything. Then comes middle school and wow these are the years. Around this time you make really close friends and these friends effect you far more than any other kids at school (which still effect you substantially). The child is no longer a child.. he's almost a teenager. I'd like to say a lot of kids suffer a "decline" of some sort and this is important.. for it can swallow you if you don't control it. Hopefully around the end of middle school you have overcome this declination period.. but some unlucky few are still trapped. Anyone reading this should know what I'm talking about. Your years at high school are still immensely shaping to people as a whole. Think of your life as a metal strip growing stronger and stronger every year, as a infant/child you are so small/thin and ever so easily shaped. As a kid your a bit more firm but still very susceptible to change.. perhaps by an older siblings? As a teenager you probably think you know what you want but almost always it's not what you want or need. Support for this would be things like: The kids that are always in trouble.. why are they in trouble? Because how they were raised as a child and kid which led them to hang out with kids raised the same way and so on. Also, the kids always doing good in school will keep doing good in school and probably achieve much higher forms of recognition. Anyways and on to the high school years of the what is now young adult. Now he/she wants to go out and but himself/herself things and wants a car etc. This alone (the desire for wealth and materialistic items) can sway one from a path very generously. Along with the friends you might have had since middle school or elementary molding you day by day whether you realize it or not. It's the reason they say everyone, everybody you've ever gone to the movies with, had a good time or just generally hung out with is a part of you, small but there. Without all of those people you would not be who you are today. You are now a strong strip not easily shaped as you once were in your younger years. This continues until(I'd say) your out of college. It might seem simple but take into consideration all of the unmentioned variables involved such as drugs, alcohol, truancy, music, media, internet, hobbies etc. All of these things can greatly effect you whether it be positive or negative it's just an example of the changes everywhere all the time. Nobody realizes the significance of youth and how we need to take great care of it. It's such a fragile and malleable stage of life and ,as most people do realize, our future. One day you and I will be parents and like everyone else we just want the best for our kids. Well you and I need to take care of our kids and when i say take care i mean think back to your youth and think about how you always heard lectures and the like. Did you remember any of them? They all sounded the same right? Wrong! there was at least one you really listened to and remembered whether consciously or subconsciously. What do you think they said that made them stand out from the rest? What you needed to hear! Most likely it was a person down to earth that understood you and wasn't afraid to say they've been there and they have made mistakes like everyone else in the world! So talk to your kids like that.. not like you want them to be perfect (the ideal perfect) but that you just want them to do good in life and you realize there will be hardships and declines in the road to glory. That is the honest truth.. you make your destiny and nothing is predetermined that is exactly the reason why teachers are always telling dropouts they can still graduate and get there life together.. because it's the truth they can! It's just harder to do it when you get older. A perfect example would be: what's easier? Saying no that kid John when he asks you to steal a candy bar from the store? Or saying no to the same John 6 years later when he asks you to rob a bank with him? Exactly it's the path of a more shallow kid but he can still escape it all with the right attitude and motivation. So do it when your younger and it'll be easier! I don't think you shouldn't hang out with "John" kids but just have friends that are better than that. Hang out with john at lunch once in a while to say what's up but the people that ask you to help them learn to kickflip on a skateboard or join a summer camp with them.. those are the people you want to hang out with after school. Those are the people that are going to sway your life in oh so many ways.
Period.