We might, after all this discussion, wonder if the kids we are working with are consciously thinking about their desires all that much. I think that there are several clues that they are seriously thinking, not just about desires, but how to rightly obtain them.
For those of you who have seen it, you will remember that in the movie Napoleon Dynamite, Napoleon's friend, Pedro, is running for Class President. Pedro's competition, Summer (the popular girl), has made both frivolous and substantial promises (new cheerleader uniforms, and it will be "Summer" all year long), and Pedro is ready to give up. But Napoleon turns to him and says, "Just listen to your heart; that's what I do." Pedro goes on to make his speech, and although it is not awe-inspiring, it closes with the words, "Vote for me, and all of your wildest dreams will come true."
I don't think that any of the students that heard the speech believed that Pedro could do all of that, but at least he was tuned into their desires, and the reality that those desires were individual. Not everyone wants just two or three cookie-cutter type things out of life.
Pedro wins because he understands the hearts of young people (I have a hard time believing that it was all because of Napoleon's dance). Are we tuned in to the hearts of our kids?
"Why do you love me?
Why do you need me . . ."
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