Empower Students to Live Life like's it's worth it

I'm  a sucker for a good inspirational Christmas story or act of giving.  Some days it won't take much for me to even get misty eyed by seeing or hearing an act of love.  One reason why SoulPancake & Kid President have taken off is because it takes the compelling joy of a 11 year old to communicate with the world what we want for our kids--Love, passion, laughter & honesty.

I've never met a student that doesn't want to laugh, celebrate life and have a purpose to why they are living on this earth.  It's innate in us as humans to want our lives to matter and mean something.  But often what I see communicated to teens & kids are messages of "life sucks, enjoy it now cause later all hell breaks loose"

I think it's a terrible lie we let younger people buy into.

I know my vantage point is skewed because I get to see teenagers actually want their world to be lived in a way that is worth it but honestly they don't know how to "just make it happen."  
They need us as adults to first of all model this if we believe it to be true.  A lot is caught and not always taught with kids.  Teens are growing up in a world where adults are showing that life isn't worth living.  That needs to change and the only way it'll change if adults model healthy lives of purpose.

Secondly they need adults to help empower them that we'll partner with them to create a world where this can be fun.  If we believe that life is worth living for then we need to link arms with teenagers to help recreate a new culture they'll embrace as well as want to be a part of.