Power of quotes

The other day, as I was reading some quotes sent from a youth I love, it made me reflect back to my own youth, where quotes were one of my favorite things, and anything I could get that was a great quote was like a gem in my life.

 So I asked the question, "Why is it that most youth are so enamored with quotes?"

And then I thought: Maybe it is because, when a child becomes a youth, I have heard that they are, in a sense, going through a "birth process".  When they are first born as an infant, they are emerging from their mother's womb into the world around them. They become separate from their mother in a physical sense...but not so much in a emotional and mental sense.  You can see the gradual distancing from the "ties of mother" as they grow and discover that they, too, have an impact on the world around them. (The terrible twos :)?  "I can say 'no', and be distinct from my mom! I have my own mind!")

When they are youth, they are emerging from their family environment and childhood experience and see themselves, really for the first time, as independent beings, with a life and mission distinct and unique from that of their parents.  Some youth manifest this in more extreme ways, but to all it is a realization that there is a whole big world out there, and they need to find their place in it.

Bombarded with information as we all are, imagine how overwhelming it must be to these young people!  Truths, impressions, fallacies, messages of all types are surrounding them, which can be frustrating as they seek to discern the truths for themselves.

So, going back to the quotes, I realized that quotes seek to be bite-sized snippets of truth: big truths captured in quick, small, generally easily understood phrases.  How wonderful to have little phrases, simply said, that make sense and resonate with the light of Christ they have within to discern truth!  No wonder they enjoy them :).

It's kind of like babies, repeating phrases over and over that they understand to learn how to communicate:  these youth find phrases (hopefully that are true :)...) and repeat them over and over to themselves as they learn to communicate with the hugeness of the world around them and try to find their place in it...

Just a thought...what do you think?