Tribute : Not All Youth Give Us Pain

I have read the negative stories about people decrying the fact that Chelsea Clinton goes to a private school, that President Clinton broke campaign promises, that prom night is full of high expenses and bickering among people who should be friends. In the not too distant future, we will be reading the “what ifs.” What if the men accused of beating Reginald Denny are found guilty? Will there be more riots? Will Gov. Pete Wilson place the National Guard on alert? How about the discrimination facing the Asian-American minority?

I’ve heard enough negative stories. Here is something positive and good about young people. This is a story about Patrick Connolly. Patrick is an 18-year-old who graduated from high school a couple of months ago. I have known Patrick since the day he was born. He is a success story. Patrick has never damaged someone’s property with a spray can and then seen his name in the paper for doing so. He has never attempted to assassinate anyone and then made money on a book relating the incident. He hasn’t made thousands of dollars by peddling narcotics to children and found himself exonerated and on probation because it was the first offense for which he had been caught.

Let me tell you some of the things he has done. Patrick graduated with a strong grade-point average and with a history of never being arrested. He and his date, Sally, went to his senior prom in a bus (not a limousine) along with many of his classmates, none of whom felt an urgent need to celebrate this occasion by becoming intoxicated.

If I needed help watering my garden while I was away, collecting my mail, moving a sofa, or feeding my animals, Patrick would do it gladly. What’s more, if he made an error in judgment, Patrick would accept responsibility. To me, this is newsworthy.

Patrick attended a Court of Honor in June in which he was promoted to the rank of Eagle Scout. Although he completed many noteworthy objectives to achieve this, one of the finest was supervising the construction of a walkway that enables disabled people to get to small plots of land where they can do some vegetable gardening.

Patrick Connolly is a credit to his Mom and Dad, to his community, to his city and to his nation. This young man and other young men and women like him should be given a section of the newspaper all their own. A section that all of us can turn to and see something positive; something good; something consisting of high ethics, sound moral principle; a list of accomplishments worthy of emulation by others. If we began turning to it regularly, it might become popular. It might become habit. It might become newsworthy. At the very least, we could smile rather than frown.