Buzz Blog

So today, in between classes, I was able to see the results of the "Shift" I took a day or so ago....

Our youth got a lunch today and they all took off and did their thing but about 30 minutes into their 1 hour lunch break, they started to show up in my office.

I was updating charts, organizing folders, assessing some need that needed "assessing" and listening to my I-Pod.

12:30 comes around and two kids stick their heads in my door...

"whats up Brad, can we come in?"

I am leaning back in my chair, feet up on my desk, listening to music and reading a book about how to facilitate a "fun" training. I looked over the top of the book and said....

"Come on in..."

I kept my music going, browsed the booke and started causal conversation...

"Hows it going??

"I like it, I am really glad I am here..."

I sat the file down and said ...

"what do you like?"

"I haven't heard anything on your I-Pod I don't like!"

And to me, that is a HUGE connection...MUSIC.... Make them like yours, and make yourself like theirs!! THIS is a HUGE connection point with youth....Music, if really listened to, and taken in account the life they live, can be a HUGE bridge to connect you with youth...And I REALLY DIG  a lot of different music.... So I LOVE IT!!

In the last week, I have downloaded 3-4 of the songs they have turned me on to BECAUSE I LIKE THEM, and when I meet with the kids, I play music....I will add their stuff to my "montage" and I thin it will really make a cool bond....I REALLY like almost any music, but I don't like ONE in particular....I do however have a slight addiction to good Blues.

So the kids started to ask me about different music and artist, and surprisingly I had A LOT of familiar stuff....They also turned me on to some cool music and then used their phones to let me hear their Kid Rock song they have or Ozzy song....SOOOOOO COOL!

I am really enjoying getting to know the "worlds" these youth live in....Its really so hard to attach "16 years old" to define these kids....Man, the shit they have seen and experienced.... (Just cant wash some things from your brain man...like a scar.... MAN do I know that experience!) What makes these kids great is they are the "Exception to the rule" but sometimes "The exception to the rule" is painful....HENCE... "TROUBLED"

Its so funny though...if you REALLY listen to their stories and you get REAL honest with your past, there really isnt much difference in the experiences....The pressure is the same, the pride is the same, the fears are the same, ego, acceptance.... the REALITY is still the same, it just a different time with a different perspective....

.........Before I know it, I have 6 kids in my office, all just chillin and talking about music, listening to T-Pac and Stevie Ray, discussing lives, differences.....THIS is what I do this for 2 weeks and these kids are starting to really open up and trust me(there are other things, BUT THIS is one of the COOL parts!)....I was just soaking it in....Laughing, joking, busting balls....FUN!!

We are so connected (us as a people) and the differences of us are so minute in the genetic makeup but we fight to the death for those differences....Acceptance, just accept we are all experiencing life in our own way but we are just doing it "differently" (and don't get me wrong, NOW WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY) but man, how far we could progress if we just surrendered and accepted... WOW!!

I just let go of what I was trying to control, and when I quit trying to control it, it went perfectly....Man, THAT is cool!!

If you choose to live a lifestyle different than mine, NO MATTER WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE, and you aren't hurting anyone else, AND IT WORKS??? KEEP DOING IT!!

Damned BUZZ BLOGGING!! ;-)