This was a very thoughtful article. Having spent a considerable amount of my adolescence in “Geekville,” I can relate to the difficulties many of these kids experience. It hurts to be ridiculed and I’ve noticed the cruelty seems even more vicious now than in the seventies. Maybe I was ‘in denial,’but I never noticed parents and other adults fostering the cutthroat culture before now. I am a parent of a truly wonderful kid at DU, and because of the negative aspects of MY own middle- and senior high school days, I became an expert in kid-to-kid emotional sniping. We decided as a family to homeschool through high-school, and I believe it made more compassionate people of our children. Homeschooling is not the only way, however. Any parent can take the time to model empathy, compassion and, most especially, love. Tragically, when parents bail out on their kids, other people must step forward to help. But it’s just not the same! The sustained connections and primary influence parents have on their children cannot be ignored, even if their example is only by its omission. I can only hope, for the few fragile ones, that mentoring, and good adults in their lives, will be able to salvage a healthy identity. For a good resource, the Search Institute has the “40 Developmental Assets” study that demonstrates the needs a child-friendly community helps address.(See www.search-institute.org/assets) Thank you for a timely article in The Clarion. I am proud of you!Regine M Chambard, DVMGeorgetown, TXreginejoy@angelfire.com