To the editor:

As a teenager, it can occasionally be difficult to discern what is “right” from what is “wrong.” I have always thought that adults were right, no matter what. I came to realize that what grown-ups do and what they say we should do are sometimes contradictory.

I was at the Sport-2-Sport complex to watch a ball game with my friends and I decided to buy concessions. I waited in line talking to my friends while an older woman and four smaller children bought refreshments. I was wrapping up my conversation as the woman in front of me was leaving, and I stepped forward to order. A grown, adult, mature woman stepped in front of me and ordered. I have spent most of my elementary and high school life being told not to cut in line, and I have tried hard to honor that. I was shocked and stood slack-jawed for a minute.

Adults like her demonstrate to children and youths how to be disrespectful. This was not a huge deal, but it made me think of youths that bring guns to school and discharge them. Their idols, mentors, guardians did not tell them to do it, but they showed the teenagers how and did not bother to show or tell us how not to do that.

It is clich but it is truly “monkey see, monkey do.” I ask all adults, the next time they are going to criticize a youth, to take a good look at themselves because we are not pulling these actions out of thin air. Remember, actions speak louder than words.

Jenny Nichols,

Lawrence