AGENTS OF HOPE

“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.” - Helen Keller

From Parade magazine comes the story of self-made millionaire Eugene Land, who greatly changed the lives of a sixth-grade class in East Harlem. Mr. Lang had been asked to speak to a class of 59 sixth-graders. What could he say to inspire these students, most of whom would drop out of school? He wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him. Scrapping his notes, he decided to speak to them from his heart. "Stay in school," he admonished, "and I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you." At that moment the lives of these students changed. For the first time they had hope. Said one student, "I had something to look forward to something waiting for me. It was a golden feeling." Nearly 90 percent of that class went on to graduate from high school.

Desmond Tutu said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” As a drink of cold water is to the parched throat of a

THE GIFT OF FAMILY (8); KEYS TO A GOOD SOCIETY

"You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them." - Desmond Tutu

It is true that good governance has a very pivotal role in developing a nation, but the keys to nurturing a peaceful, stable, morally upright, and attractive society; that even provide the platform for economic development lies with a special pair within the family referred to as PARENTS. Even though there is an attempt to redefine who parents are, the original intent, God’s idea refers to a MAN and a WOMAN that are married. Parenting is no mean business, it is the foundation of great societies, and no one said it was going to be easy.

Prevention is better than cure, suggests an English study of criminal behaviour, and the key may be simply parenting. The Cambridge Study of Delinquent Development tracked 411 London males from ages 8 to 32. It found that a man was most likely to be convicted of criminal behaviour if he'd experienced the following between the ages of 8 and 11;
1. A broken home,
2. Low family income,
3. Poor housing,
4. Ántisocial parents and siblings, 
5. Poor parental supervision,