A QUICK glance through this newspaper on any day of the week is enough to tell you that the Bailiwick of Guernsey is lucky enough to have some remarkable youngsters.
From swimming star Kristina Neves and table tennis wunderkind Alison Loveridge through to the young team forging ahead in the Youth Speaks competition, the island has much to be proud of.
More than that, there are the thousands of children and young adults who play a sport, join a club or take part in a hobby without making headlines. They, too, help to make Guernsey a thriving community with associations and activities galore.
That community is rightly boastful of its young achievers and keen to point out that for every young person who complains of nothing to do there are a host who just go out and get involved.
Whether that is junior motocross, junior chess or a charity car boot sale it doesn’t really matter. It’s got to be better than just hanging around.
Nevertheless, there will always be those youngsters who are not suited to organised activities and prefer to go it alone with their mates. That’s also perfectly acceptable, provided they stay on the right side of the law.
When that line is crossed islanders have a right to condemn. If it is indeed youngsters who vandalised Amherst School playground, set light to a cottage in Burnt Lane or burned down garages in Delancey Lane then the culprits should be tracked down and shown the error of their ways.
It is plainly unacceptable and punishment should be swift, memorable and, hopefully, life-changing.
But it would be equally unacceptable to use those incidents for wholesale condemnation of ‘the younger generation’. There are bad eggs among every section of society, including pensioners, but no one gives up on ‘the older generation’.
If we are due another spate of arson and vandalism it is important to keep such matters in perspective.
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Plenty to be proud of
A QUICK glance through this newspaper on any day of the week is enough to tell you that the Bailiwick of Guernsey is lucky enough to have some remarkable youngsters.
From swimming star Kristina Neves and table tennis wunderkind Alison Loveridge through to the young team forging ahead in the Youth Speaks competition, the island has much to be proud of.
More than that, there are the thousands of children and young adults who play a sport, join a club or take part in a hobby without making headlines. They, too, help to make Guernsey a thriving community with associations and activities galore.
That community is rightly boastful of its young achievers and keen to point out that for every young person who complains of nothing to do there are a host who just go out and get involved.
Whether that is junior motocross, junior chess or a charity car boot sale it doesn’t really matter. It’s got to be better than just hanging around.
Nevertheless, there will always be those youngsters who are not suited to organised activities and prefer to go it alone with their mates. That’s also perfectly acceptable, provided they stay on the right side of the law.
When that line is crossed islanders have a right to condemn. If it is indeed youngsters who vandalised Amherst School playground, set light to a cottage in Burnt Lane or burned down garages in Delancey Lane then the culprits should be tracked down and shown the error of their ways.
It is plainly unacceptable and punishment should be swift, memorable and, hopefully, life-changing.
But it would be equally unacceptable to use those incidents for wholesale condemnation of ‘the younger generation’. There are bad eggs among every section of society, including pensioners, but no one gives up on ‘the older generation’.
If we are due another spate of arson and vandalism it is important to keep such matters in perspective.
Article posted on 26th March, 2008 - 9.00am