April 22, 2013Dear SirForgive me, but I am tired of adults putting down our young people. We are curious, we are courageous, we are inspired to try new things and to successfully succeed in what we love doing. I am not talking about drinking, partying, or even drugs. I am talking about music, art and sports.You, as an adult community; you as the leaders are supposed to help our young people and encourage them to be the best they can be. To bring out their hidden talents that most of you don’t know about. You walk down the street looking at half of us, judging without even knowing who we are.I have friends who are skateboarders and love what they do. However, they are considered “troubled teens”. All they want to do is have fun with friends; is it wrong to have a passion for something? No. They aren’t hurting anyone, but suffer for it. Are these negative thoughts necessary? Adults are supposed to encourage individuality.We cannot grow mentally in an environment that constantly puts us down. You say that young male teens go into gangs because they are bad kids. No, they are not. They have nothing better to do. Their dreams of being a football star or musician were probably crushed due to the negative comments of our adult community. We are not entirely to blame for the drugs and alcohol abuse. Who do we see doing it? Adults. I am not saying drugs and alcohol are good, but why blame us when these actions were imitated?We are the future. I know you want us to be the best for Bermuda, but before we can be the best, we need to be the best for ourselves. We must learn from our mistakes, and from the adults of our community. I understand some adults are encouraging and I thank them. However, young people need to speak up to the negative and judgmental. As Albert Camus, a French philosopher, once said: “Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”A VOICE