Welcome to Gaia! ::

So I had a lovely moment earlier today.

As some of you may know, I live in a very conservative-type private community which is mainly inhabited by a bunch of old bossy people. However, there are some younger individuals and some children.

Every summer there is a summer program for the kids of the community in the community's community house (which is pretty much a giant cabin). There's also been a sort of group of teenagers to young adults that hang out at out there as well on Fridays.

So, for the longest of times I would hang out with a bunch of the teenagers. We'd have nerf gun fights and water gun fights and card games, etc. Just lots of fun. Not only that, but every once and a while I'd pull one of the kids over privately and make sure that they were keepin' their nose clean and bein' safe and such. A few times some of the kids would approach me with problems they didn't feel comfortable talkin' to their parents about, and I would help 'em.

Anyhoo, as some of you may also know, I have a bad reputation in my community not only because of how I dress, but because I'm an older individual that hangs out with kids. So in the past year, the group of teenagers and young adults was given an age limit, and I was forced to leave.

There's more to the story, but it is gettin' long, and this wasn't the point of this thread.

Anyhoo, tonight was the first night where all the teenagers meet up to talk about summer plans. One of my friends is in charge of keepin' an eye on the group, and she said that as soon as the kids arrived, they all asked where I was and what they could do to get me back. They wanted to confront the adults that put the rule in order and defend my honor, in a sense. So yeah, I was happy to hear how much they liked hangin' out with me and how mature they were for understandin' and acceptin' people who are a little...different, such as myself.

Eventually, one of 'em persuaded me to come by after the meetin' to meet up with everyone, and he ended up hangin' out with me for a little while. He also told me what my friend had said about how everyone already misses me, and how I'll break all their hearts if I don't show up. xd He then said that if I hadn't been around, he probably would have ended up hangin' out with the other kids about my age in the community, who are known for drinkin' and smokin' pot and just...misbehavin'. This kid is a really bright kid who started college early and is workin' on creatin' his own business. He also works in the government and is...well...just really bright. whee

But yeah. It's moments like that that make me feel good. The main reason I want to be a teacher is to help inspire children to achieve their dreams and to reach their full potential. It saddens me when such a thing comes across as creepy, and I wish a lot of the people in this community could just understand that. I don't want to make them worry and I don't want to make them any more paranoid then they already are, but I'm not gonna sit by and let kids be ignored.