Life Rules for Teenagers

Life Rules for Teenagers
This week I thought I’d pass on some classic words of wisdom from Charles J. Sykes, author of the 1996 book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can’t Read, Write, Or Add. These rules have been incorrectly attributed to a number of other people over the years. Most recently, emails have been circulating stating that they were a part of a high school graduation ceremony speech by Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft, but that attribution is false.
In any event, these rules are timeless, humorous, and so very true. They caught my attention, so I think they will catch yours as well. Feel free to pass them on, but be sure not to attribute them to me.
Life Rules for Teenagers

Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teenager uses the phrase “It’s not fair” 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 2: The real world won’t care as much about your self-esteem as your school does. It’ll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it’s not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won’t make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won’t be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn’t have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait ’til you get a boss. He doesn’t have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he’s not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren’t embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6: It’s not your parents’ fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of “It’s my life,” and “You’re not the boss of me,” and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it’s on your dime. Don’t whine about it, or you’ll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren’t as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn’t. In some schools, they’ll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone’s feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4.)

Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don’t get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don’t get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we’re at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs.

Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.

Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you’re out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That’s what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for “expressing yourself” with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven’t seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school’s a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you’ll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You’re welcome.

These Life Rules for Teens were first written by Charles J. Sykes.

2nd Big Announcement from LIGHTHOUSE 2911

Our second big announcement from LIGHTHOUSE 2911 is that we will be implementing a new program called "Tough Choices". It deals with building character, healing self esteem, and managing anger. This comprehensive video-driven cognitive-emotional-behavioral program goes beyond managing anger to deleting the negative and programming the positive thoughts of youth and adults. You could say it's rewriting the mind.

This four step program consists of:

• Awareness and willingness
• Deleting negative thoughts
• The physical piece
• Building new personal power life skills

We will be implimenting this program in the near future to help youth in Edna, Goliad, Cuero, Waelder, Yoakum and Hallettsville.

Tune in soon for our third announcment.

Three big changes coming to LIGHTHOUSE 2911 (well, maybe more than three)

Today I received notification that we will be able to initiate our GED and pre-GED program. This program has been three years in the works. It's not complete the way we need it to be, but with help from you and other volunteers, we can be ready to offer this in the locations which we serve. We don't have everything we need in place today, but we are 10,000 miles down the road from where we were three years ago when we first began to dream of this program opportunity. I would like to thank Mr. John for his generous donation.
And now for the other two announcements. Check back in a few days.
Paul

A Day of Change

This past Friday history was made in Edna, TX. with "You Can Be The Change", a program to stop the teasing and bullying that go on on school campuses. We had 25 youth who took the challenge to change their school one person at a time. It was a special time for some to seek forgiveness and others to receive forgiveness. The day was a complete success as we shared some of our concerns for our home, our school, and our city. A big thank you goes out to the administration and staff of the Edna Jr. High School.

Answered Prayer by Two Angels

This morning I was on my way to a meeting when I remembered about Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up. I guess I didn't just remember it. It's been on my mind for some time now. But I said a quick prayer asking God to provide for some families who desparately need some help during the holiday season. I drove into the parking lot and sensed that God would take care of this issue sometime in the future. As soon as I grabbed coffee and began my hellos a couple there said "Good Morning" and said "Oh, don't leave. I have a check for you." Not thinking too much of it, I continued my rounds, and as I finished I realized that I needed to pick up my notebook from the car. Not wanting to lose the check, I was going to lock it in the car. When I pulled it out of my pocket, it fell open. It was the exact amount that I had prayed for not twenty minutes earlier. Two angels heard God speaking to them as I was speaking to God. What an awesome God we serve! Something that had been bothering me for several days now was answered the moment I gave it to God. So don't forget all you saints out there, we have not because we ask not.

What if an evening out could change the life of a child?

We all love to spend an evening out with our families, our loved ones, but there are many children in our immediate area who will not celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas with gifts or a special meal. But for the price of an evening out, you can help change all that and take a great deal of pressure off parents who are struggling and youth who feel hopeless. Won't you consider staying at home one evening this holiday season and helping these families celebrate the holiday season? Make your donation to lighthouse2911@msn.com with paypal or send your donation to LIGHTHOUSE 2911 at 202 Willis St, Yoakum, TX 77995.
Thanks in advance for your generous donations.

The Great South Texas Deer Hunts for LIGHTHOUSE 2911

LIGHTHOUSE 2911 is very blessed to have Ricki and Francey McKinney as friends. Ricki is a long-time hunter and breeder of Texas white-tailed deer. He is offering two great hunts for LIGHTHOUSE 2911 - a three day hunt for a 140-160 trophy buck or a management buck or doe hunt, so if you are a seasoned pro or new to deer hunting, we have a hunt for you. Please

check them out on ebay at the links below. If you have questions, email me and I will try to answer your questions. Please tell your friends about these two hunts.






http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280412064130&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280412078500&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT