My feelings in regards to power and how it pertains to leadership is a positive one. Naturally people fear those in higher societal positions. I personally feel that if people use power for reasons deemed right, it can be utilized to recruit people to work towards a desirable common goal. Power can be used negatively as well, but with the right intensions and the right type of people; I personally believe that power can be a positive thing.
Youth violence has really been a problem in my community and this issue has taken the lives of several of our young people. Somali on Somali crime is something common within the Somali community. Somalia is in a state of anarchy due to conflict between feuding tribes. Many families have fled from that country of war and terror to seek refuge in the west. For quite a while the Somali community here lived in peace and harmony and people had hopes to someday rebuild their country along the lines of unity. A new form violence in terms of youth was ignited here. Somali youth violence based on tribal lines slowly started to appear. Crimes due to gangs based on Qabeel (tribes) became frequent in number. Now, youth are being killed one by one and it seems like the situation in Somalia is being duplicated here. If we don’t take a stand and stop this situation while its still in its earlier stages than we will be facing a catastrophe. This issue has existed for quite some time now but people have ignored it, and as sad as it is for me to say this, it took 9 young men to lose their lives before the community decided that they would react to the problem. Even now, although it looks as though the topic of discussion seems to be youth violence there still seems to exist a division that is getting in the way of people coming together to work for the common good of saving today’s youth. A division that has still carried over from the divisions that started back home.
I am saddened, for I don’t see the need for this division. If everyone wants to save the youth and help them as they say, then why can’t everyone join efforts to combat this issue? I feel that although people say they want to help the youth, the number of individuals who are sincere about really helping the youth is far less than those who come out claiming that they are working for the betterment of the community. A lot of people talk about the wrongdoings of the youth, problems they are creating, and things of such sort but they never talk about solutions. The idea that they could help those people never seems to cross their mind. Talk is what a lot of elders and older youth seems to do, but I believe that talk without action is useless.
What this does is dishearten those who are sincerely working to better the situations. Individuals who want to see the youth get the resources and opportunity to make something of themselves. It breaks my heart to see people claiming to work towards helping the youth, when in reality they are fulfilling their own personal agendas. As a result the young people who need the help, don’t know whom to trust, because it is not like you can tell apart those who are sincere about it and those who aren’t.
The director of the youth program at the Coyle Center has used his power as a director to go out to different colleges to recruit and remind college students about the need for young people to be active in the community. A lot of times what happens is that there are a lot of people who want to do something positive, but because for some reasons just stop at the idea, and never really go out there to implement their thoughts and ideas into practice. So it’s nice for such a person as the youth director of the Coyle Center to remind others about the need for volunteers to help foster and educate tomorrow’s leaders. It is our responsibility as college students, those that have reached somewhere in life and know the problems to help those that are still in the process. The problem is that when people reach at a place where they are proud of themselves they chose to forget everyone else. They focus on themselves and that seems like something that isn’t fair. It is the duty of those young college students to mentor and help those younger ones so that they don’t lose their way.
I myself tutor at the Coyle center. I have decided to tutor there because; I feel that the presence of young college students can make a statement to those who come to the neighborhood to cause trouble. When young college students come to the neighborhood they are able to become role models for the youth whom they tutor. In a neighborhood such as Cedar Riverside it’s not everyday that people invest in the neighborhood. What breaks my heart is that there is a large number of youth from pre-school to high school who calls Cedar Riverside a home. If the city and the college students aren’t giving back then who do they leave these kids to? That as well as a personal passion of helping others is what brings me back to the neighborhood to leave my trace while helping the youth with their academics.
Every time I get time I talk with my friends about joining the cause of empowering our youth. A lot of them want to get involved but because of fear, they are stopped in their tracks and find themselves discussing the problem rather then working to find a solution.
No comments:
Post a Comment