The chaperone had called "lights out" for a group of 18-year-olds as a birthday party wound down at a cabin in the mountains. A few minutes later, he saw a young man go outside. Wondering what mischief he might be up to, the chaperone stayed attentive. In a little while, he saw the young man in a corner of the cabin — reading by flashlight from the set of scriptures he had returned to his car to retrieve.

Sometimes adults expect the worst of young people but if they really look they will see the best. It's easy to focus on negative behavior. Newspapers, television and radio carry a litany of bad news, including reports about gangs, graffiti taggers, hazing in schools, shoplifting, robbery, drug abuse, assaults and even the kind of violence that leads to serious injuries or death. In the United States, many are reeling from a wave of violence in schools. During a four-day period, March 5-8, the Associated Press reported, two students were killed and 13 wounded at one school while around the nation there were 32 other incidents, including a student wounded by gunshot, students who took loaded guns to school, students who threatened to kill other students and teachers, and students who made bomb threats. (Deseret News, March 8, 2001, A-5.)

The solace, if any is to be found, is that these acts are exceptions; otherwise, these foul deeds wouldn't qualify as news. For every young person who commits a crime or some mean-spirited act there are hundreds of thousands who do good deeds, live good lives, set good examples and who are, in general, good people.

From organized service projects to individual acts of kindness, they do much to make life better for those around them. They volunteer to clean yards; paint houses; prepare and deliver meals; run errands; visit those confined to homes, hospitals and care centers; read to people with visual impairments; befriend the lonely and downtrodden; tutor peers and others. All their good deeds cannot be listed.

We hear a lot about the poor manners of youth, but how often do we note the little acts that demonstrate their compassion, consideration and caring toward others?

While many young people seem unable to speak without taking the Lord's name in vain and using profanity, there are legions who respect Deity and whose speech is clean.

No generation has been surrounded so completely by those who would try to lead youth on a downward spiral. The entertainment media and Internet provide disturbing examples of how greed and outright evil pervert otherwise productive recreational and educational resources by glamorizing lifestyles that damage not only the individual but also families and society.

The fact that so many young people are upstanding members of their families, churches, communities, schools and workplaces is testament to the strength of today's youth. Given caring parental guidance, positive role models and nurturing environments, most would choose the spiritual over the profane. An upward reach is inherent in their natures.

President Gordon B. Hinckley has commented several times about the good qualities he sees in young people, particularly those who are members of the Church. At the April 1996 general conference he said of them: "It is an inspiration to look into the eyes of young men and women who love the Lord, who want to do the right thing, who want to build lives that are productive and fruitful of great good. They are working hard to develop skills that will bless them and the society of which they will become a part. . . . Surely the Lord must love those of this choice generation of youth who learn and serve in His Church. I love them, and I want them to know that. Life is not easy for them. I think that never before has evil been presented in so attractive and beguiling a manner by those who with sinister designs seek to grow wealthy on the tragedies of lives that become blighted or marred as they partake of these evil goods." (Conference Report, April 1996, or Ensign, May 1996, p. 66.)

Instead of giving up on young people, let's consider their positive contributions and achievements, and do what we can to help them stay true to their divine natures.