In the light of stories and statistics such as these I have heard so many people say that they are glad they are not young today. I find that rather a sad statement. Young people view the world with a mixture of feelings but above all else with a sense of joy and optimism according to Merton Strommen (The Five Cries of Youth, 1988, Harper Row). Don Bosco too emphasised the need for optimism and joy and reminded us of St Francis de Sales advice that we should not bewail the times we live in. Young people are the growing edge of society and they have within their hands a future that belongs to them. As adults we too need to become explorers on our own faith journey, finding new ways to connect the older wisdom of the Gospel to the wide range of options facing young people today. Young people don't need us to make their world safe, but they do need us to give them some sort of compass as they move into an unknown future. For Salesians that compass is the experience of Gospel love, "young people need to know that they are loved" said John Bosco and in another place he said "Education is mainly a matter of the heart". Trying to understand young people is an act of the heart as well as the head it is the first step in building a lifelong friendship with young people.