Show Me I matter

I visited work colleagues in Roanoke yesterday. They told me about a project they'd recently done with youth in their community.

The project started when a local survey told them that almost 50% of the youth surveyed said they feel like they don't belong.

So my colleagues put together a group of those students. They asked them, if you could tell the world something they could do to help you feel like you belong - help you feel like you matter - what would you tell them?

Then all the students got to pick one of those messages. They each had a chance to have a photo taken. And then they got to choose one of the messages to attach to their individual photos.

Many adults who saw the photos said they'd never seen the young people look so happy and at ease.

On one hand, the messages are heartbreaking. When I think about the number of kids who just want to have someone listen to them, who just want someone to help them with their homework, who just want someone to tell them they are not alone - that is gut wrenching to me.

But on the other hand, it's encouraging. There are a lot of complex problems in the world. Problems that require big minds and big resources to sit down and wrestle with and negotiate a path forward.

This problem with our youth, though. It is not complex at all. Our kids just want to know they matter.

And matter to them isn't the latest iPhone. It's not a new car. It's not an anything at all. It's a someone.

It's very inexpensive to be a someone. Sharing a new iPhone will set you back a grand. But sharing your heart, showing someone they matter - well that's relatively inexpensive.

I thought about those kids' answers as I drove to my next stop. I wondered - if I sat down with a group of adults - with you and with me - and I asked the same question: what does the world need to know about helping you feel like you belong - like you matter - would the answers be any different?

I am sure this issue of belonging is an issue at the heart of these young people in Roanoke. But I'm also pretty sure it's an issue at the heart of you and of me - of humanity.

I worry some days that we make this simple matter of the heart more complex than it has to be. I worry that big minds wrestle with ideas and resources to generate solutions that will allow us to make one another feel like we matter without having to show one another that we matter.

I worry that it's become an easier task to spend on a connection than it is to enter into one. I worry that we are much better at spending on someone else's heart than we are at sharing our own.

But our kids are crying out. And maybe they aren't just crying out for themselves, but crying out for all of us: show me I matter.

We will all go hurriedly into our lives today. But please do me a favor. Do US a favor. Find one person; it doesn't have to be a kid. It would be nice if it was, though.

But listen to these kids below and tell someone why they are special. Tell someone you are here to listen to them. Tell someone you've got there back and that they aren't alone and that you will be there for them.

Listen to our kids and one another - without judgment - get to know someone.

The world looks chaotic and completely out of order some days. But our kids are giving us the solution. Not big minds and resources - but our kids.

They are pleading with us. Show them they matter.

They are pleading with us. Show each other we matter.