Today's Youth

Today we had a very pleasant lunch with our niece, Sharon. She has only been living in St Louis a couple of months, having joined AmeriCorps VISTA a month after graduating from college. She is living on the third floor of an old catholic school, in the old nuns quarters along with five other young people. This is quite convenient to her office which is only a few feet down the hall! The set up is actually quite nice. They each have their own rooms and nice shared areas including a large roof top area where she has started a little herb garden.

Over lunch she talked to us about her job working with seniors in the area. I was quite shocked at the pay she is receiving. For working forty hours or more a week she receives half of what I make at my part time job and she doesn’t get the vacation time I get. Her rent is reasonable but that still leaves her very little to live on.

She is considering delaying grad school to serve another year with AmeriCorps or perhaps the Peace Corps. As a college graduate she could be in a much higher paying job and be well on her way to establishing herself in a career. I’m quite proud of her for delaying her career pursuits to give this time of service.

After we left her, we headed out to Branson and on the way we passed Ft Leonard Wood. A month ago a former student of mine made the decision to serve our country by joining the Army. He is currently training at Ft Leonard Wood. Not only is Bob a former student, his mother is a friend of mine so I know how hard his decision was and how it has affected his family. They are proud of him but at the same time quite concerned.

We hear a lot about how selfish, self centered and irresponsible many of the young 20 somethings are these days. So Thumbs Up! To two special young people that are giving of themselves to serve their country in two very different ways.