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We just spent several hours observing teenagers hanging out
at our local mall. We came to the conclusion that many teenagers in
America today are living in poverty. Most young men We observed didn't
even own a belt; there was not one among the whole group.
But that wasn't the sad part. Many were wearing their
daddy's jeans.
Some jeans were so big and baggy they hung low on their hips,
exposing their underwear. I know some must have been ashamed their
daddy was short, because his jeans hardly went below their knees.
They weren't even their daddies' good jeans, for most had holes
ripped in the knees and a dirty look to them.
It grieved us, in a modern, affluent society like America,
that there are those who can't afford a decent pair of jeans. I
was
thinking about asking my church to start a jeans drive for
"poor kids at the mall." Then on Christmas Eve, we could
go Christmas caroling and distribute jeans to these poor teenagers.
But here is the saddest part...it was the girls that were
hanging out there that disturbed us most. Never, in all of our lives,
have we seen such poverty-stricken girls. These girls had the
opposite problem of the guys. They all had to wear their
little sister's clothes. Their jeans were about 5 sizes too small!
I don't know how they could get them on, let alone button them up.
Their jeans barely went over their hipbones. Most also had on their
little sister's top; it hardly covered their midsections.
Oh, they were trying to hold their heads up with pride, but it was a
sad sight to see these almost grown women wearing children's clothes.
However, it was their underwear that bothered us most.
They, like the boys, because of the improper fitting of their clothes,
had their underwear exposed. We had never seen anything
like it. It looked like their underwear was only held together
by a single piece of string.
We know it saddens your heart to receive this report on
condition of our American teenagers. While we go to bed every
night with closets full of clothes nearby, there are millions of
"mall girls" who barely have enough material to keep it together.
We think their "poorness" is why these two groups gather at the
mall; boys with their short daddies' ripped jeans, and girls wearing
their younger sisters' clothes. The mall is one place where
they can find acceptance. So, next time you are at the mall,
doing your shopping , and you pass by some of these poor teenagers,
would you say a prayer for them?
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