Listen Up, Kids

That's right. Pause your Halo game for a minute and put the controller down. Oh, we just remembered, you probably don't read the newspaper, though we like to think you check out the high school sports section once in a while.

Okay, so Mom and Dad, please do us a favor and hand this edition to your young teenage son or daughter and ask them to read this. Thanks.

Kids: We have a message for you. It's simple: Don't mess up and if you do, make amends, learn your lesson and become a better person for it.

You'll notice several stories in this week's edition on this subject.

The first is about the middle schoolers who took the Baby Jesus doll and ditched it somewhere, then took a replacement baby doll from the Nativity crib later and mutilated it.

Bad idea. Sure they believed it was a brave prankish thing to do.

What were they thinking? Apparently, as one of them wrote in his apology letter to Pastor Moser, they weren't. So after someone told on them, the sheriff came out and they confessed.

Good idea.

At least they owned up to it and avoided criminal charges that could have haunted them forever by agreeing to say they're sorry and do 10 hours of community service. Next time, just don't wait so long to take responsibility.

All you kids need to know something. Your parents have to work harder than ever to provide a home and food for you, so they won't always be home to keep an eye on you.

And, for one reason or another, lawmakers and the courts are making it harder and harder for adults to discipline you when you need it or force you to make the right decision when you need to.

Take video games, your favorite subject. If, as a minor, you chose to buy and play games where you kill, maim, dismember or sexually assault the image of a human being, they can't stop you.

But your parents can still restrict you, of course. And ask yourself: is it really a good idea to expose yourself to that morbid mindset for hours on end?

The bottom line is that you have to remind yourself what's right and wrong before you do something you might later regret, like smoking pot on your way to school. We've seen you under the trees near the alley in Waitsburg. You know who you are.

Bad idea.

Last week, we were in Columbia County court to report on two young adults who are now in jail or on the run because they're charged with crimes: forgery, fraud, stealing weapons, burglary and so on. Their stories are in the paper this week too.

Before those guys came before Judge William Acey, there were some teenagers on the stand - kids your age. A 12-yearold boy whose mother told the judge he hangs out with kids who drink and smoke, then gets in trouble in the classroom. Another teenager accused of hurting his own cousins while adults were in the house upstairs! A third kid was skipping school for weeks.

You know what the judge orders them to do? He makes them write an essay. What is your dream job and how can you get it? What do you think it will cost you to live on your own? He makes them think. If you don't stay on track in school, if you get in trouble with the law, if you make the wrong choices more than a few times, life is going to be tough. You're not going to have the education you need to get the job you want or need to be on your own. You may get a criminal record that makes it almost impossible to get any kind of job and you may end up like those young adults who are in and out of jail.

The easiest way for you to succeed in life is to take charge yourself.

Do the right thing without adults having to remind you. Put away that controller and do your homework. Fess up when you make a mistake. Look after your own health and don't use substances that cloud your judgment.

It's your life. You only have one. Make the best of it. You're old enough to understand that.