Making the rounds

This quote has stirred up quite a bit of controversy:

"Always we hear the cry from teenagers 'What can we do, where can we go?'...My answer is, "Go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you've finished, read a book. Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun. The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in poverty or sick and lonely again." In other words, grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone, not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person. You are important and you are needed. It's too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you."  - Youth Judge in Brisbane, requoted by Principal John Tapene

I've shared with you in other blog posts that I grew up on a farm, and there was never a lack of things to do, besides my parents would have found me 'something to do' if I had complained!

What do you think? Too harsh for today's kids and teens? Or something they need to hear?

(photo via: Flickr/Creative Commons G.C.P. Gray)