I always have the deepest conversations with my best friend about influencing our youth and making the world a better place. She shared with me the story of a young lady from Chicago by the name of Lil Snoop.

The story is that the 17 year old girl took on the personification of a gun toting character from the wire. Unfortunately, Before she could see the error of her ways she was gunned down. 

The issues in our communities are a bit deeper than banning guns, rap music and increasing the minimum wage. 

Life in 2016 is about money, influence and attention. Instagram fame is way easier than pursuing a degree. I can’t even be mad, student loans are brutal for our pockets. 

And where are the shows to encourage scholastic achievement. 80’s babies had “A Different World” and “Drumline.” Even Zach an them on “Saved by Bell” went to college. Oh yeah, can’t forget Moesha. 

We had actual visuals of college, even if we didn’t know a single real life college graduate. Those images were enough for us to say, “Yeah, I’m going to college.”

Fast forward to today – everyone wants to be somebody but aren’t sure how. It looks like the entertainers have the best lives, so now that’s what everyone wants to be. College grads look lame, taking care of your family isn’t glamorous, a legit job sounds boring. 

Somewhere down the line of evolution some families stopped passing down the importance of providing,protecting and progressing family in a respectable manner. 

Somewhere down the line pride in hard work was minimized to “That work is beneath me.”

There is a lack of Hope and determination in our youth. They don’t see life getting better, so why try. They don’t see anyone living the dream so why try. That is an empty feeling which starts to develop in childhood. 

We all play apart in making our kids feel capable of greatness. Encouraging them by exposing them to more than what’s on tv, radio and web. 

This is our responsibility. 

If you’ve got to snatch your child off the street corner, than that’s what you have to do. If you have to give up them looking fly during the school year or saving that money to send them away to a summer camp- do what you gotta do. 

So much of our demise is attributed to the breakdown of the family dynamic. We need to get back to peace, love and unity. How do we make that cool again?