"I know up on the top you are seeing great sights, but down at the bottom we, too, should have rights."
- Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories

- James B. Conant

Like a turtle's pace or a tortoise's stride, any large scale change can be slow and sometimes frustrating.  The trick is to persevere, to keep moving forward. This makes it even more exciting to take a look back at the first year of our Focus 2020 project and to celebrate the progress and accomplishments of our Focus 2020 participants and graduates. On Thursday, September 5, Focus 2020 graduates were awarded $1,000 to $3,000 in community action grants to create and deliver community service projects throughout the central Indiana region.

For more information on the Focus 2020 initiative or to register for Focus 2020 workshops, visit the Focus 2020 website at www.infocus2020.org.

"We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future." - Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

"Why are you watching this? That is so sick and wrong to watch," said my 18 year-old son Alex.  It is difficult to be scolded by your children especially when all you're doing is watching the evening news.

 

After he said that, I remembered my wife and I do not watch television news in front of our children.  If we watch it at all, it is late at night while our children are sleeping. 

 

Once, when I did watch the local news with my daughter, she had so many questions during each report - How far away was that from our house?  Why do people do that? She displayed anxiety; making me realize it was not a good idea.

 

I have vivid memories from when I was growing up in Terre Haute of my Dad returning from work at about 6 pm and turning off our Happy Days or Electric Company shows to watch local and national TV news.  We sat together watching and discussed current events around the dinner table.

 

What is different about my family?  Do I want my kids sheltered from tv news like a turtle putting its head in a shell?

 

Growing up in Terre Haute meant hearing about fires and accidents, but rarely about acts of violence.  Today, in Indy, reports of violence can take up much of the "news" part of the broadcast.  Fear and suspicion is a natural outgrowth of the quantity of violence to which we are exposed.

 

During the recent 9-11 remembrances, I recalled how we turned off all television during the event and for days after - making sure our children did not see it.  We decided our young children would not have their innocence stolen by acts of violence.  Unfortunately more than 50,000 people die each year from homicide and suicide in our country so tragedy continues daily. 

 

We cannot hide from facts nor believe this violence is not related to our lives, but our children do not need constant reminders of tragedy.   I want youth to be well informed of our community's most pressing issues, and to get involved doing something about them.

 

We do this at Peace Learning Center by doing exercises such as the Root Causes of Violence where we let youth outline contributing factors to violence such as poverty, greed, turf battles, jealousy  and peer pressure.  We also focus on the long term benefits of being a peacemaker vs. a thug, while helping to build hope for the future which leads to ownership over one's own education and learning.

 

In this world, we need a hard shell - like the turtle - as a defense from calamity and strife. But we also need a warm heart, forgiving spirit, and loving attitude that helps build community.

 
UPCOMING EVENTS