I'll Be Brief.

From what I gather, once a month there is some semblance of a Morgantown housing committee meeting thingy. This morning I was fortunate enough to partake. Bear in mind that although I have now attended one of these meetings, I still have no idea what the committee really does. We talked about one code issue (Japanese to me) and then spent the rest of the time coming up with topics to discuss during the next meeting.
It was a roomful of characters, to be sure. I, the hapless, know-nothing, sit-in-for-the-attorney-who-normally-comes-but-can't-because-she-is-currently-in-Baltimore, sitting uncomfortably amongst them. I had only two allies in the room: Brian, the off-campus housing coordinator who I have been working with for the past 2 months, and the Sunny-Side Up Initiative representative girl who was sitting next to me. (I never met her and still don't know her name, but she was about my age and clearly just as intimidated as I was, so I count her an ally).
The rest of the crowd was a hodge-podge of code enforcers, fire chiefs, and local landlords. No one asked me what i thought about anything, for which I was thankful. I think the only thing I offered up aside from my name was a discreet "Mhmm." When Brian mentioned that we had recently taken a tour of a local apartment complex.

All that chitter chatter aside (as I'm sure reading about the meeting isn't anymore exciting than attending it...) one particular topic caught my attention. The committee was discussing ways to reduce crime, excessive alcohol consumption, and destruction of private and public property during the first few days/weeks of school.
Various suggestions thoughts and ideas were bounced across the table, most landing only on the ears of the one who had spoken them. Though everyone wanted to be heard,no one listened...

"They're just dumb kids- their brains aren't fully developed yet, they're just going to do stupid things."
"Well I think the problem is nobody report's anything anymore!"
"If those damn kids would just listen to us instead of walking right past our information booth, maybe they'd learn a thing or two!"
"Ahhh, we did the same stuff when we were younger..."
"No the problem is, parents aren't doing their job!"

and on and on the finger pointing and circle-talking went. No conclusions. No answers. Just a bunch of adults with a lot of bitterness and an unspoken need to pat one another on the back so that everyone went home feeling like they did their job and whatever was left over wasn't their problem.
All the while I was wracking my brain trying to come up with a solution. Working my way logically through the problem: increased crime/chaos during university move-in...must be a motive, so what is it?...kids want freedom, like the idea of being in control of their lives for the first time...

and then *SMACK!*
like a flash of lightning the reality of it all hit me.
Problems like this will never be fixed, because committees like these will never acknowledge the true source of the problem.
Sin.

What these kids need is love. what they need is true freedom. they're all searching and no one is there offering the real answers. so they drink and party and become reckless. They will continue to do destructive things to occupy their time and energy so that they never have to feel alone, or scared, or confused, or abandoned. As long as no one is there telling them that Christ offers true freedom and real love and real healing-- they will continue to follow the exact same pattern year after year after year.
No walking patrol officers or extra lighting is going to fix this problem. Only Jesus.
It breaks my heart that our society won't recognize this. That we will sit in a board room for 2 hours and say virtually nothing while the answer stands as true as it has for centuries.
So while the committee argues over the language of a housing code, I'll be praying, and I ask that you would too. This fall, 1000's upon 1000's of teenagers are going to college. So few of them know "life and life to the fullest." An so few are there to tell them. Pray for these young adults. College is almost always the time in a person's life where they construct the foundation that the rest of their lives will be built on. Pray that they would build on solid rock. Pray that others would come alongside them and tell them and teach them and LOVE them.
Pray that they would come to know Jesus.