It's about time we make the well-being of our young people more

In the words of Jane Fonda: “It’s about time we make the well-being of our young people more important than ideology and politics. As a country, we benefit from investing in their future by investing in teen pregnancy prevention.” This utterance is not mere rhetoric, but a call woven with urgency and compassion, echoing the voices of those who came before us. It reminds us that the strength of a nation does not lie in its armies or its gold, but in the spirit and flourishing of its youth. Without tending to them, we risk leaving behind a barren field where there might have been a forest of greatness.

The ancients often told us that a society is judged by how it treats its children. To Fonda’s words we may apply the wisdom of old: when the sapling is protected from harsh winds, it grows straight and mighty; but when left to the storm, it bends, breaks, and fails to bear fruit. So too with the lives of young people. Their well-being is not a matter for delay, nor should it be entangled in the snares of politics and ideology, for the needs of the heart and body know no party, no faction, no banner of division.

Consider the tale of Hull House, founded in Chicago by Jane Addams in the late 19th century. In a time when poor immigrant families were cast aside, Addams devoted herself to protecting mothers and children, teaching, healing, and giving them shelter from the hardships of poverty. She was not driven by ideology but by compassion. By investing in the future of those children, she transformed the city and planted seeds that bore fruit for generations. This example illuminates Fonda’s words: prevention and care are not luxuries, but the very foundations of a nation’s endurance.

To focus on teen pregnancy prevention is to shield the young from a burden that may eclipse their education, their freedom, and their dreams. This is not to shame, but to protect; not to condemn, but to liberate. A society that provides guidance, access to knowledge, and the tools of health is a society that proclaims its love for its children. For what greater investment can there be than in lives unshackled by avoidable hardship? Here is no cold statistic, but the warmth of futures preserved, paths left open, and hopes allowed to bloom.

We must not forget that when nations ignore their youth, calamity follows. Rome, in its decline, turned its gaze inward to greed, corruption, and ideology, neglecting the nourishment of its own young. The result was decay, and the collapse of what once was mighty. Let us not mirror that folly. Let us instead embrace the wisdom of Fonda’s call, knowing that the prosperity of tomorrow depends upon the protections we give today.

The lesson is plain: let not politics cloud our vision where children are concerned. Let compassion and foresight guide us. A society must rise above quarrels of ideology when the lives of the young are at stake. For politics divides, but the needs of children unite. If we raise them with care, we raise a stronger people; if we abandon them, we abandon the promise of the future itself.

So, what must we do? First, speak openly of these matters, breaking the silence that breeds ignorance. Second, support education that equips youth not only with knowledge but with the wisdom of responsibility. Third, ensure access to health and prevention, removing stigma, and extending compassion. Finally, live as examples of care, for the deeds of the elder generations are the lamps by which the younger find their way.

Remember this, O reader: the well-being of the young is the altar upon which the fate of nations is laid. Invest not in the fleeting squabbles of politics, but in the eternal wealth of children’s futures. In so doing, we plant trees whose shade we may never sit under, but which will shelter those yet unborn. This is the true measure of greatness, the sacred duty of our time, and the most noble investment of all.