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Tonght I was in my local coffee shop working on my book Safe Passage. I had my ipod going and was in the throws of it when three guys in their late teens sat down at the table right next to me. The guy with his back to me was so close, when he folded his arms and laced his hands behind his head I almost got elbowed in the ear. No big though, I just tuned them out and listened to my music as I wrote away.

I don't know which happened first; a pause between song changes, a lag in between sentences, or the conversation next to me getting louder, but I caught a sentence that destracted me from my work. "You ran away."

I kept my earphones in, but the conversation was too close so I couldn't help but hear. Turned out the teen with his back to me had run away from home and the other two were friends were trying to talk some sense into him. One boy, who appeared to be the eldest, was the primary speaker. He discussed stubbornness, anger, and the fact that the guy's parents care about him. He wasn't weak about it either. The runaway bucked back slightly, but listened to his friends. They talked about losing respect and the runaway's college plans going to hell, then said they were leaving to go see the runaway's dad and invited him to come. Both friends left. The runaway sat by himself at the table for less than a minute, then went out the door and in their direction.

I hear a lot of crap about kids today-they're rowdy, disrespectful, unrefined, they don't take responsibility for their actions, they expect a lot of return for a little effort-and I have seen cases that exemplify this.

But guess what folks, there are some damn good kids out there. Those guys having the guts to talk to thier friend about something so heavy becuase they give a damn, that gives me hope.