Article September 29, 2008 Issue

WHEN TEENS SAY YES TO A PATH OF GUIDANCE AND GOOD

Mary Collins with contributions from Carlos Lopes

For almost 20 years, the city of Boston has been engaged in a series of innovative public safety strategies focusing on violent youth and illicit gun markets. There's also concern over a new Columbia University study revealing that teenagers can get their hands on marijuana and prescription drugs more rapidly and easily than last year (The Christian Science Monitor, August 14, 2008). The temptation to seek refuge in—or be lured into—city gangs has increased correspondingly.

But there are encouraging signs that many citizens, especially people of faith, are helping to find spiritual solutions to the unrest among—and the dangers facing—young people, by integrating themselves into the kids' daily routines.

Young men on the brink need an awful lot of guidance to avoid the pitfalls of their neighbors and schoolmates. They also require firm but loving supervision—which often their parents can't provide—to help them straighten out if they want to achieve what they see others achieving. It can take time for them to figure things out, especially when they're still working out how to listen to adults, and to accept criticism.

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