Teenagers these days are so...great, actually.

There's lots to worry about with the youth of today, they love their phones, they have too much, they spend a lot of time being entertained. But there are a lot of things to be proud of too. Did I mentioned the fifteen 9th graders who come to the early morning scripture study class that I teach every day? They are learning 25 scriptures this year. They try to have personal scripture study every day and are striving to pattern their life after the Savior.

One of my 9th grade girls plays on a team at school. The other players noticed that she never says any bad words.  They asked her about it and she explained her commitments and beliefs.  Now they try and watch their language when they are with her.

Last week we were discussing the Lord's laws of retribution, war and retaliation found in D&C 98. It involves patience, forgiveness, and a fair amount of turning the other cheek. One student commented that there is a guy at school that picks on him during PE. Another boy mentioned that there is someone at school that bullies him too. A tall, quiet, athletic boy from the other side of the room spoke up in a very protective way, "What's their name?" As I saw him shaking his head, I realized that he was a kind and loyal friend who was going to help out his seminary buddies at school.

The next day, I went to said school to substitute in health and PE.  As luck would have it, the PE teachers have lunch duty. Speaking of lunch duty, I have some opinions. My first lunch duty was a very stressful 30 minutes in the loudest place on the earth.  I walked around intimidating people with my mom look as they drank ketchup, tossed a little food around and made each other cry. (This was elementary school.)  Some of the children were polite and ate calmly and talked quietly, but it was still loud.  I've heard of a school in our district that has silent lunch. If I had heard that before I would have thought that was horrible and fought for the students' right to talk.  Now I see it as a kind gift of peace and quiet to help the students regroup before they have to meet the challenges of the day.  The other elementary school that I observed might have found the perfect formula.  They play soothing instrumental music that really seems to take the edge off of the volume.  For any school administrators who wonder what my opinion is.  I vote for soothing music and a little talking.

 Anyway, as I was walking around the high school cafeteria, impressed with how few people were drinking the condiments and the skillful way they sat on their benches, a student walked up to me with a big smile on his face. He introduced himself, "Hello, I sit with Rebecca (my daughter) and I wanted to invite you to come eat lunch with us.  I think it would be cool." How adorable is that? Of course I can't sit while on lunch duty, only walk and stand, but I went over to chat.  The students were adorable.  We told sub stories and I got some tips."One sub walked up behind a student and whispered in his ear, 'You'd better listen to me."  Gets 'em every time.

I knew it could be a potentially awkward position for my seminary students if a sub ran up to greet them with a hug and hello, (Subs aren't typically very popular) so I tried to play it cool to protect their reputation. But then one of my girls ran up to me and gave me a hug and hello. Well that made my day, she's a true friend. I observed other positive behaviors in the classroom, students shushing each other when it was time to listen, students finishing their assignments and contributing insightful comments to the discussion.

It's good to be concerned, and we need to continue to fight drugs, abuse, pornography and all the evils in the world, but know that there are some excellent people who are preparing to lead and take their place standing for truth and right. They might even be the kids drinking the ketchup.