For thousands of years, young people have often left their elders shaking their heads and wondering why they act as they do. While most young people are law abiding and responsible members of our communities, others have spent time loitering, vandalizing and causing disruptions in their schools, playgrounds, business districts and elsewhere. Almost continuously, we hear the excuse that young people today just don't seem to have enough to do as if that is a reasonable explanation for their actions.

We have a few suggestions for them. Go to the local nursing home and spend time talking or reading to a lonely senior citizen. Volunteer at a hospital, library, nursery school or church and give back to your community.

Take your younger brother or sister to the movies; clean your bedroom, cook dinner at home, wash the laundry and give back to your family.

Read a good book, research the lives of the American Presidents, learn to knit or fix a carburetor and give something back to your intellect.

It's patently ridiculous to explain bad behavior by saying children today have nothing better to do. There is always something better than making the wrong choices. It's simply a matter of making the right choices. To think less is discounting the thousands of young people in our community who do the right thing, day after day, making their families and their communities proud and for whom these excuses are an offense.