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A longtime advocate for children, J. Robert Flores has led a distinguished career in juvenile and criminal justice. He is currently with the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs, where he serves as Administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, a position he assumed in April 2002. Mr. Flores previously served in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on issues related to child exploitation and obscenity.
Since I was a young boy, I have been involved in faith-based youth activities. Men played a substantial role in running the program, spending time with the youth participants and coming up with events to engage us. I learned from these men that it was not only important but fun to have inter-generational relationships. I started mentoring and working with kids when I was in college. Today, I continue to mentor young adults and hope that I am passing this lesson along to a new generation.
The most influential person in my life was my youth pastor who served as a great role model because of his value system in challenging others to learn the importance of service to others; his role in my life set an example of what mentoring should look like.
I would recommend The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. The reason this is my favorite book is because it highlights how even a person viewed small and insignificant by others is able to meet the challenges put before them and can have an impact in changing the world for the better. And as the end of the book concludes: right can triumph over darkness.
Christian philosophy guides my life. Honoring parents, elders, and leaders, recognizing my limitations and the need to trust and work with others to succeed, and understanding my responsibility to care for those who have less or are in need, are all central to my life philosophy. These tenets underscore for me why mentoring is so important. Mentoring provides a way for me to honor those who have given to me by passing it to another generation, work with others and share my resources with those who have need.
The film "It's a Wonderful Life," reminds me of how commitment to God, family, and country, provide order and strength by which people can overcome any obstacle. While the story is simple, it has every type of person we will ever encounter and it shows how honesty and love, when acted upon, make an impact over the generations and in ways that we may never know. It also just makes me happy as I remember the ending shot of the dedication page of Tom Sawyer, which was left to the movie's protagonist, No man is a failure who has friends.
I would have continued to study the piano.
I love to listen to the radio.
I want to have a country where adults embrace their responsibility to children and youth and they show it by mentoring children at every stage of their life. For us to succeed in breaking the cycles of victimization and want, we need to teach our children to succeed and by mentoring them we can accomplish that goal. This cannot, however, be an effort by a few, it must be an effort by all of us, first, in our own homes, and then with those next door. I dream to see our supply of mentors outstrip our need for them.
