Episode #59: Ruth Chapter 7 - The program

Jan,16 2026

<-#58: Ruth Chapter 6 - Teenagers#60: Ruth Chapter 8 - Leadership ->

Not everyone in our organization approves of the summer program for teenagers. They say the world has changed, that it is no longer safe to let young people work in the fields without their parents hovering like anxious birds.

I listen to these worries. Some come from love, some from fear wearing the coat of love.

They imagine dangers in every shadow, forgetting that shadows grow longest where no one stands together. Our program places teenagers outdoors, under the eyes of responsible adults who have known these fields since they were small enough to fall asleep in wheelbarrows. I have more faith in that circle than in the streets where many of these same children wander after dark.

Over a single summer they learn more about themselves than many learn in years of classrooms. They discover that sweat does not kill, that blisters heal, that a body used well feels proud at the end of the day. They learn to lift together, to wait for the slower friend, to notice when someone grows quiet from exhaustion rather than boredom.

These are not lessons printed in any curriculum.

One member complained to my face that allowing me to guide such a program sets a poor example because I live with a woman. He spoke politely, which somehow made it worse. He worried that my presence might confuse the young.

I told him what I have seen: a child does not become gay by watching two women share a meal any more than a child becomes left-handed by sitting beside one. What they may become is kinder to those who are different. Representation does not create desire; it creates recognition.

He did not like that answer. I did not expect him to.

Beneath these debates lies a deeper unease. Some fear that giving teenagers real responsibility will loosen the neat order adults have arranged. They prefer youth as a season of obedience, not of preparation. Christopher would have recognized this instinct and gently placed a shovel in its hands.

Our fields have never harmed a single child. What harms them is the belief that they are fragile ornaments rather than growing people. I have watched a shy girl find her voice while organizing a work crew. I have watched a loud boy learn humility when the tomatoes he boasted about withered under his neglect.

These transformations happen because we trust them with something that matters.

Yes, the world is more complicated now. News travels faster than wisdom. But complexity is not cured by hiding our young indoors like china plates. It is cured by giving them places to stand where adults can still reach them if they stumble.

I write this calmly, though my heart beats faster than the page suggests. I will continue the program while I have breath to defend it. The day we decide our teenagers are too dangerous to be trusted with honest work is the day we admit we have stopped believing in our own future.

<-#58: Ruth Chapter 6 - Teenagers#60: Ruth Chapter 8 - Leadership ->