this is no longer my blog

So, after having some time to think, and talk about it with friends, I'm not as upset about some of the things that happened at the picnic. Namely, that the co-chairs didn't help. Word has gotten around that perhaps they were not told that it was expected of them that they were to help. And seeing as how they are both new to the position, they'd have no way of knowing, really. So, their lack of participation might be able to be explained away.

But that doesn't explain the lack of participation by the other two volunteers. Of course, one of the volunteers was out of my sight for most of the evening. Therefore, I have no proof that he wasn't actually interacting with a group of youth somewhere. Since I cannot prove that he did not participate, I really shouldn't be upset.

Although there is the one volunteer who was mere feet from the place where we were playing games and who did not join in. He merely stood and watched a group of seminary students playing another game.

Now, some of you may think I'm blowing things out of proportion. But you have to understand, it seems all too often that the youth in this communty receive what is known as "the shaft." It seems that people think there should be activities and opportunities available for the youth, but they don't want to be the ones to provide it.
Case in point: Two years ago, almost exactly, I was co-chair of the Youth Ministry Committee for the second year. My class was holding elections, where it was expected of us to elect representatives to all of the various committees. We were moving along smoothly until it got to be time to elect a representative for the Youth Ministry Committee. Then it became like pulling teeth. People just did not want to volunteer. A fellow student (who had a child who benefitted from the committee) asked, "Well, since the chairs of the committee are in our class, do we need to have a representative?" Here's the flaw in that argument: the chairs of EVERY committee were from our class, so if we followed that argument, none of the committees would have had representatives from our class. But, none of the other committees had trouble getting representation. So, why did it seem like that might even be a possibility when it came to the youth? Finally, someone dared to speak up, but only to ask, "What's the time commitment?" Then someone else jumped on that, and said that since they had asked the question they were obviously interested. The question-asker, who was kind of backed into a corner, made sure to point out that their intention was not to volunteer, but since no one else was, she'd be more than willing to do so. So, after what seemed like forever, we finally got a representative from the class.

And I have gotten quite close to a number of the youth on campus. Being a pretty consistent presence in the youth ministry committee for the three years I was on campus before I left for internship, I had the great and wonderful opportunity to build some pretty amazing relationships with some of the youth. So, if I think they're not being treated the way they deserve, I'm going to get indignant. If you say you're going to spend time with the youth, then you'd darn well better spend time with them. And regardless of whether they signed up to help with the youth or to clean up after the picnic or whatever else, if you signed up to do something then people are counting on you to do it. SO DO IT!!!!!

Anyway, I should go to bed. The semester officially starts tomorrow. I've got places to go and people to see and things to do and food to eat. So I should be rested.
Blessings!