Ya'll went to Zuma's?? (A post by James)

This is my first post on Jen's blog (yay :). So Jen and I lead Bible Study groups for kids at our church on Wednesday nights. I lead early high school boys and she leads junior high girls. Both groups tend to be pretty rambunctious to say the least. This past Wednesday something hit me though that although was somewhat evident before really hit home here.

I have one kid in my group whose name let's say is J. J was active in the youth group all summer and at times showed promise to even be a leader. He's funny at times and can be quick witted, but oftentimes is annoyingly loud. Playing ball with him over the summer he repeated the phrase, "Mr. Sir Sir!" at the top of his lungs for two straight hours that drove me nuts. About a month ago I found out his story: both parents in jail, constantly on the move living with relatives and oftentimes at friends' houses before being kicked out, sometimes coming to youth group not knowing where he will be staying that night. One Wednesday he was acting up so much and being so disruptive I had to sit him aside for about 30 minutes to teach the lesson to him individually. It did not seem to register. Our pastor who has a good relationship with him decided to ask him to take a break from the fellowship for a couple of weeks as a punishment for being so disruptive to the lessons. So for a couple of weeks I did not see him and then found out that he was in jail for carjacking. Then last week I found out that he has had numerous run ins with the law having accidentally shot and killed a family member a few years back.

Just yesterday he came back to fellowship a little more sedated with kids asking where he'd been. He brushed it off and made some quick deflective remarks. So I taught the lesson asking him questions along the way to which he did not have any answers. And by the end of the lesson, which I'm not sure if he took anything away from, he comes up to the leaders who are discussing next week's activity outing and listens. He hears someone say, "Zuma's." And a light bulb went off in his head in a way that "Jesus", "salvation" , "sacrifice", and pretty much any other heftier word in the lesson did not have a standing chance. So he asked, "Ya'll went to Zuma's?" and asked it about 5 times quickly in succession. To which I responded, "No, we're deciding that right now for next week." He looks at me for maybe a second turns back to the leaders and asks, "Ya'll went to Zuma?" At this point I give him a confused look and then confoundedly turn to Jen who is just laughing at me.

All this being said. There are a couple things and questions I'd like to pose and highlight:
1) Not all these kids have such troubled pasts but many do, and my question is, is this a vicious cycle doomed to repeat itself? Many of these kids are 16/17 barely out of middle school. Is it the failure of parents, bad teachers, the system, the students themselves, us as a society, or simply us as the "privileged"? I realize that progress and revitalization takes much time, and we try to do our small part in the larger more complex puzzle, but it is nevertheless frustrating, so where do you think the problem lies? And I suppose the follow-up question would be, what are we each and all doing to alleviate the systemic effects of poverty either in our close proximity or around the world?
2) I see how intelligent these kids are and for some how much they have failed and come to be satisfied with their failures that it makes me lose heart. It's funny cause Jen would hear the kids often rapping freestyle and if that's not an indication of their intrinsic abilities and intelligence I'm not sure what is. So, maybe it is a product of expectations. ie) the only way to "make it" is to be a rapper or an athlete, so that's where they invest their time. I recently told the kids that I'm unemployed right now looking for a job, to which they responded: "YOU UNEMPLOYED, but didn't you graduate high school?!" One this is probably a product of them thinking I'm 18 as opposed to 25, but also it's a product of them seeing high school graduation as the necessary hurdle for employment as opposed to college. Now I realize and sympathize that that might just be the reality for some who can't afford or have to work urgently, but isn't there a systematic problem with an expectation that your dream in life is to simply get by if that athletic scholarship doesn't come through?
3) Going back to my friend J, what will it take to get through to this guy? I have no clue; what he has gone through in the past year I most likely will not experience in a lifetime and to extrapolate that comparison for his entire life, I would in turn not experience in 10 or 20 lifetimes. So I cannot empathize, but I still will try to point him to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith and one who can truly empathize with his suffering. Other than that I'm at a loss. Personally in the midst of all my uncertainty with regards to job or school or future residence, I cannot make promises on being able to be there or mentor him long term or anything like that, so that makes it difficult. But I have him for a short while. Maybe I can reach him for a second. That second where he looks at me and he gets it and it all makes sense; that's what I'm waiting and hoping and praying for. But as for now, he looks at me again and says, "Ya'll went to Zuma's?"