Few things are worse than earnest teenagers telling me how to live my life, sharing with me the wisdom of their 18 or 19 years of living – except, in those very rare occasions, when they’ve earned the right to tell me something. I had lunch with 10 of those rare occasions this week.

I was at the Washington, DC, luncheon honoring the 2007 recipients of the Yoshiyama Award for Exemplary Service to the Community, presented by The Hitachi Foundation (a client of ours). One of this year’s award recipients is a young woman who raised money and bought a tract of rain forest in Costa Rica to preserve the land and ensure that a songbird from her home state has a protected migratory destination. A young man started and runs a nonprofit store that employs youth with autism, and donates all its proceeds to various charities. Another recipient is spearheading the construction of a community center in her hometown.

So what did I fill up on at lunch? Hope. Today it seems such a rare commodity, a natural resource seemingly diminishing rapidly in this country. Hearing these young people talk about their commitment to keep changing the world, gave me just that – a good dose of hope.

And the words of wisdom they shared? Well, things like, “We all have struggles in life, but we can overcome these challenges.” Or, “Life is such an amazing gift to us all.” And, “Realize how lucky you are and do something.” Plus, “Be the tool that people can use to better themselves and their world.”

None of these words are exactly Churchill-like in the ability to move an audience. Except that, coming from these young people, they sound a lot less like light platitudes and a lot more like a heaping helping of hope. And just being reminded that there are countless youth out there making this a better world, that’s enough hope to keep me going.

A note from Blogenberger: I apologize for posting more than 24 hours late this week. I can tell from the stats that a good number of you visit Blogenberg on Tuesdays, and from all over the world at that. We had a proposal to get done and then I dealt with a bit of a West Coast client crisis much of the day and evening yesterday. So, blogen-pologies.

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