Somerset’s Community Police Centre Manager
Once a year, there is a day that all young people in our city anticipate with uncontrollable exhilaration.
A day that transcends race, culture, and religion. It’s called the last day of school. This day brings vivid memories of waking up early (for once), uncontrollably talking about thenext two months, and a sense of relief to have survived the past school year.
With summer officially underway and thousands of students hitting our downtown core, we should take a moment to discuss what makes them tick. I’ve received an increased number of complaints involving youths lately, from rude drunken behaviour to outright criminal acts.
Our neighbours are sometimes at a loss for words to describe this mystical creature we call “teenagers”. It is true, the kids today appear to be a different breed from what we can remember. They walk around constantly connected to some kind of electronic device because the act of walking is just too boring. You’ll know when one of them forgets his cell phone by the paralyzed fear and immediate panic that overwhelms his senses. The world appears to be speeding up and patience may no longer be a virtue. Who needs to meet when there are web-cams, or converse when there’s instant text messages and emails.
Make no mistake about it, children don’t climb trees anymore and going outside can now be seen as a form of punishment! But our children are also able to reach more parts of the world than we are even aware of and have more friends on Facebook than we can remember meeting during our entire life. Contributing to the disconnect with our young people is the fact that the things we used as teenagers to define our existence no longer exist. Tube televisions, drive-in movies, cassette tapes, and film cameras are the next items to be displayed at the Museum of Civilization.
A recent report pointed out that Ottawa seniors are moving downtown at a rate exceeding all other major cities in Canada. Our retirees want a piece of the action, which means, as a police service, we have to ensure that a vulnerable portion of the residents in our community are protected when they choose to live in the most dense and often busiest areas of town. This is a problem that will only become more challenging with passing years.
The largest number of today’s youth (18 and under) can be found on the outskirts of the city (Orleans, Hunt Club, Barrhaven, and Kanata). So it should be no surprise to anyone that when young people congregate downtown, it’s to have a good time. And a good time it should be!
I don’t believe that the kids today are any worse than we were not that long ago (some longer than others). However, they face an entirely different set of challenges that can be hard for those who have not been exposed to similar influences to understand. I, for one, was never close to being called perfect, but I was described as patient and polite, two characteristics that are becoming extinct in my views.
Social networking has become the hot topic of 2010 and is now a new industry worth billions of dollars. The Internet has become a necessity of life for today’s youth, and how dare you not have a Facebook account! Information flows faster then ever and streams in real time to meet increasing demands. The challenges of popularity have changed since I was there, and socializing can now be done completely online. Many have argued that these changes will diminish the communication skills of future generations.
But for all that, there is an opportunity this summer! An opportunity for all of us to defend what we hold as sacred. To share our life experiences and the lessons we have learned with young people so that our values are not simply sent to the spam folder. The Ottawa Public Library is full of free programs and materials readily available to teach young people all sorts of things this summer. The Museum of Nature offers free admissions every Thursday afternoon. And the City of Ottawa does an excellent job providing outreach programs throughout the day.
So I challenge you to get involved in the life of a young person and share with him or her the things that have made you successful. If not passed onto the next generation, your success traits may soon disappear altogether. As a young person at heart, I have relied heavily on my mentors and role models to guide me through tough times and new challenges. We all need that support!