I had just returned from spending several days with my grandchildren (ages 12, 13, 15 and 17) up north, when your series about 13-year-olds appeared. On the drive back to Florida, my husband and I tried to figure out how these children, especially the 13-year-old, had become so boy crazy that she could talk of nothing else. Was it because she was from divorced parents? Was she not getting enough attention from her dad? On and on the thoughts continued. Then I read that this is "normal" for today's young teens.
It has opened up a whole new understanding of them and others of our grandchildren who are of that same age or will soon reach it. Not that I like it, mind you . . . but understanding takes the frustration and "need to change them" back down to a "loving them as they are" level once again. I have recommended it to all I know with teens that age. I even have a daughter with a 9-year-old son who has been urged to keep it for a later date. What a difficult climate we adults have created for these children/teens/adults.
Grandparents, double your prayers for these young people. Give them love and hold them close.
-- Marge Rafftery, St. Petersburg
An insightful series
Re: 13.
After almost 30 years of teaching in public schools (25 in Florida), I found the first two parts of the series one of the most insightful pieces of journalism I have ever read.
Most of my career consisted of teaching journalism to middle-schoolers, much like the students you've so accurately described. Their emotions would always run high and, at times, they would rattle my nerves; however, I never stopped devoting all of my time and energies to those wonderful kids.
At times, they could be very hurtful, both to me and to their peers; however, a subsequent apology never failed.
I highly applaud the St. Petersburg Times for so accurately and appropriately reporting such a story. This was a sensitive topic; some sensitive issues were brought forth, yet they were handled in an extremely professional way, befitting the Times and its reputation.
Now you know why I have been a part of the Newspaper in Education program since 1989.
-- Kenneth F. Knapp, Hudson
Glorified peer pressure
I am not sure what the point is in publishing this series of articles on how "tough" life is as a 13-year-old. Maybe you are trying to open the eyes of a lot of parents who are totally clueless regarding what their kids are doing with their friends and in school.
The biggest danger in this series of articles is that it gives the very mistaken impression that these behaviors, attitudes and conversations amongst peers are typical for "normal" 13-year-olds.
There are a lot of kids who will read your series and think there is something wrong with them because they don't seem to be like some of these kids, or because they don't call their friends by vulgar names as a term of endearment.
You are glorifying a bunch of kids who have fallen prey to peer pressure, trying to act more grownup than they are. They, for the most part, haven't done anything that deserves being written about on the front page of the paper. This series is a bad choice.
-- Lenny Chew, Tampa
A shared concern
Re: Daughter's memory caught in conflict, May 18.
What a thorough research David Ballingrud has initiated for this article on Rachel Corrie and her parents. Thank you, St. Petersburg Times, for allowing it to be published. Rachel's concern for the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes by the Israeli military is shared by many of us Americans.
Israeli spokesmen give the same reason over and over again for bulldozing homes in the occupied territories: They are the "homes of alleged terrorists." In Rachel's case, the house she was protecting was that of a physician; his house was bulldozed because its presence hampered a strategic view of the area by the Israeli military and had nothing to do with being the home of an "alleged terrorist." The person who spoke of Rachel's stance in front of the military bulldozer is the daughter of a rabbi, both of whom reside in Jerusalem. The Israeli military denied that Rachel was deliberately run over by the bulldozer, contrary to eyewitness accounts of Rachel's friends. Now the Corrie family awaits the results of a second Israeli investigation. How many times has the Israeli military admitted to any wrongdoing?
God bless Adam Shapiro and his International Solidarity Movement, which seeks an end to Israeli occupation and aggression against the people of Palestine.
-- Arthur Hebert, Largo
Offensive coverage
In view of the homicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Israel, the front page story regarding Rachel Corrie, an obviously troubled American, killed in the Middle East as a result of her own actions, is most offensive (Daughter's memory caught in conflict, May 18). Indeed it is the ultimate in chutzpah (gall) to have the Times provide such sympathy for an American girl who demonstrated hatred for her own country as shown in the photo of her burning our American flag. What is equally offensive is the fact that the Times saw fit to relegate the horrendous homicide bombings in Israel and Morocco to Pages 2 and 3. While the descriptions of Palestinian victims are usually described in detail, giving the ages and names of the victims, Israeli victims are merely mentioned. For example, two Israeli victims are noted merely as a "husband and wife." Ignored was the fact that the Israeli "wife" was pregnant. It is high time for the Times to demonstrate greater concern for the real victims of terrorists - Americans, Israelis and others - rather than stories evoking sympathy for the terrorists and their supporters.
-- Norman N. Gross, president, Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting (PRIMER), Palm Harbor
Reform the culture of hate
We all want peace in the Middle East, but the "road map to peace" must be a realistic plan. On the same day that the St. Petersburg Times printed an editorial accusing Ariel Sharon of sabotaging the peace process (Saving the "road map,' May 18), a Palestinian homicide bomber murdered seven Israelis in Jerusalem. Within the next 11, there were three more terrorist attacks. While living in the safety and comfort of their homes, the editors of the Times have no grasp of the issues facing the people of Israel.
The Times ignores the fact that the Arab vision of peace has no room for a permanent Israel. If the editorial writers were truly interested in learning Israel's position, they could easily pull up on their computers the Palestinian Authority Web site or take a look at their school textbooks and maps. There is no Israel. And these are the "good guys" compared to Hamas and Hezbollah. The Arabs have made no reforms, as the editorial claims, and continue to glorify homicide bombers and spew a culture of hate.
The Times blames the impasse on the democratically elected leader of Israel, Ariel Sharon. Totally ignored are the facts: When Ariel Sharon believed Israel had a true partner in peace, he dismantled settlements in Sinai for Menachim Begin in order to achieve peace with Egypt. Israel cannot accept the "road map" until there is an end to the incitement that breeds homicide bombers and glorifies terrorists. These are the true reforms that Israel is looking for.
The Palestinian people never hear anything but hatred of Israel and Jews from the cradle to the grave. Someone once said that terrorism is 2 percent the act and 98 percent incitement. The road map to peace is a journey of a lifetime, and the Palestinian leadership must address this culture of hate before we can truly say there are true "reforms."
Then perhaps the Times editors would understand why the tiny state of Israel, surrounded by hostile neighbors, should not be asked to commit national suicide by making concessions to its very survival.
-- Jenny E. Alexander, Largo
[Last modified May 25, 2003, 01:30:37]
