To all our rangatahi, you have a great life ahead of you. Find the drive within yourself to be everything you can imagine, because the potential is endless.

I know that many of the maori my age sometimes wish, if only I knew back then what I know today. If I could relive those years, I would have been different, I would have been exceptional. Well, my maori, please realize that you are exceptional, and what you have and are going to provide for this world in the future is beyond exceptional. Unfortunately there is no telephone box that we can jump into and dial a number to go back in time. The PRESENT! TODAY! NOW, is our time! Its time to break free from the routine and the ordinary, and really focus on what we can offer this world. Lets start with our rangatahi.

I encourage all of my readers to step up and offer their knowledge of this world to mentor or encourage someone of the younger generation. Whether it is a cousin or a sibling or someone you know, it doesn’t matter, the knowledge and life skills that you can teach our rangatahi is endless. I think the main message we want to instill in our youth is the importance of honesty, integrity and confidence. Good values of honesty and integrity will always encourage our youth to make the right decisions in life, no matter what situation they are put in. But confidence will really help our rangatahi shine. I’m talking confidence in speaking in front of family and peers, confidence to express their opinion, confidence to step up and have a go even if they may fail. Most importantly a confidence within themselves that no matter what this world throws at them, they will always be in control.

Our rangatahi are our future, yet at that age they don’t even know it. I remember when I was young; I had no idea what I wanted to be or what was considered to be a bright future. I remember having a rough idea of what was to occur in my future, basically id get a job, have a family, and then become old and have family dinners with all my children and grandchildren. Hopefully by that age I wouldn’t have to cook or do the dishes! At primary school I remember having career days where the army and police would come and try and inspire us from an early age, yet all the kids would be more interested in the guns and the gadgets than the actual message they were trying to portray.

By intermediate everyone wanted to become a sporting superstar. For me it was Michael Jordan! My man!!! The showstopper!! The buzzer beater extraordinaire!! However once I reached high school, I knew things were starting to get serious, suddenly my classes were a lot harder and the whole career aspect of life really started to kick in.

If we can help our youth in any aspect of their life, then we are definitely contributing to this world. I mean who knows, the youth that you help could one day win an Olympic medal, or win a Nobel prize. The results are endless, but the satisfaction you get from influencing someone’s path in life is indescribable. I admire our teachers out there, I admire our coaches, I admire our parents for all they have done for our youth. MEAN MAORI MEAN!

For any rangatahi that read my page, can you please just take away this one message!

Don’t ever think you’re not good enough for something, because you are!

Don’t ever feel like you don’t fit in, cause you do.

Don’t ever think I should have done this, or I should of done that, because regret will get you nowhere.

Remember this! You are young, you are maori, and you are a part of an extraordinary race.
You can and will be anything that you want to be, because from this day forth you will believe in yourself 110%, and you will never back down from a challenge.

Life is lived only once, so live your life my maori and become everything you want to be!
 

Jason W.
 
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http://www.meanmaorimean.com

Jason W.