OPINION: Our youths need access to great role models like those described here (online bloggers, sports celebrities, professionals, police, etcetera)
One of the main reasons why our youths are committing vicious and serious crimes is because of the role models they are imitating. This means we need to spend more time and resources on providing proper role models for our youths at an early stage and throughout, for them to see that they too can dream big and achieve.
Antigua and Barbuda need to begin recognizing the local celebrities and role models and treat them the same way foreign celebrities are treated. We need to let these local role models and celebrities go into schools and share their stories and success. We need to stop thinking that people are bragging when they tell their stories and still live in awe and disbelief that they have succeeded beyond levels they thought were impossible. These kinds of stories, being told in good faith, are needed to put hope into the minds of our youths and to show them with hard work, anything is possible.
Antigua and Barbudan youths need to hear the stories of people like Tyrone (pacer) Williams, Derick (pretty boy) Edwards, The guy from Bolans that was winning major tennis events years ago (please help me with his name), etcetera.
I remember in my youth days; I would literally dream about being like those people on the local Antigua and Barbuda tv show called justice. I wanted to speak and know the law as much, and even more, as the current AG (Mr. Benjamin), Former commissioner and attorney (Mr. Robinson), Attorney Eli Fuller, Former Minister of Government and attorney (Mr. Lovell).
These are people that motivated me without them knowing that they were. Seeing them on tv made me hope. Imagine if my father was able to arrange for me to meet them all like I constantly pleaded with him to do. I only got at that time to meet Attorney Wendel Robinson. I just really wanted to meet these people, they meant more to me than they know. I just wanted to be knowledgeable like them. I wondered, how on earth did they get to go overseas to study, that felt impossible to me in 1997. But seeing them made me feel this was possible, just tremendously hard.
There are also other famous blogger celebrities like Ras Smood, Former police commissioner Pompey, Brixtonian, Tenman, that are celebrities in the blogging world for youths. These are people that could motivate our youths to go on the right path. Please put your favorite blogger below in the comment section.
I just wrote to the AG, PM, COP, Deputy commissioner of police, foreign affairs about the important strategy to give hope to young people, so that they do not think the only path in life is through criminality. We can introduce them to local people who have achieved a lot by working hard and doing the right things. Like our pageant contestants and winners. We have sports celebrities (like Viv, Richie, Ambrose), and famous police commissioners (like Pompey, Wendel), even some superhero police officers that would defend the public from criminals but is wrongfully charge and then cleared.
Exposing youths to this, having them see how much we respect these achievers, will put hope in their minds and motivation to follow these kinds of paths. I want to see regular motivational speakers described above in schools and communities, made up of our local celebrities. This is just my way of helping to solve our youth crime/deviant problems.
Please post below your local celebrity
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