The media has long been criticized for focusing too much on the “bad news,” with newspaper pages and newscasts dominated daily by coverage of wars, civil unrest, murders, natural disasters, economic chaos, and every other scourge that could possibly befall the human race.
When it comes to teenagers, the stories routinely involve alcohol and drug abuse, youth crime and vandalism, failing grades, and the like.
But while “good news” typically gets drowned out, it does exist. Case in point was the Free the Children “We Day” event at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg last Wednesday that drew some 16,000 students, including more than three dozen from Fort Frances High School.
Its message was simple: that one person can make a difference, no matter what your age. And judging by the reaction of the local students who attended, they’re eager to make their school, community, and world a better place.
“The Mob/Saving Faces” group at Fort High already has been involved in community work, most recently collecting more than 2,000 items in a food drive called “Hallowe’en for Hunger.” And just today, students were taking part in a national “Vow of Silence” to “stand in solidarity with children who are silenced by poverty, disease, and exploitation.”
The sheer enthusiasm and determination shown by those students who have taken up the challenge to make a difference is both refreshing and inspiring. And hopefully it’s also contagious, not only to their classmates but also to the community in general.
It’s amazing what can be accomplished if we just put our minds to it.
Thank you to all our young people who have chosen not to sit idly by. Keep up the great work.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
