and they should be treasured, respected and encouraged to fulfil their dreams, a speaker said on Saturday.

And young people need to understand the value of an education. Moreover, they must make the most of the time spent in school because it is a key factor in the way society will relate to them.

Rev. Dr. Wilbur (Larry) Lowe shared these ideas with an audience of more than 400 people at the Bermuda Industrial Union's 16th annual Labour Day Banquet inside the Southampton Princess' Atlantic room.

In a 25-minute speech that interweaved Biblical themes and personal anecdotes, Rev. Lowe said that the Island's young people -- more than 20 of whom were in attendance at the banquet because of sponsorship from local businesses and churches -- were a national treasure whose importance should not be overlooked.

He said: "I know (young people) can make it because I did...I know you can make it because I made it. Larry Lowe, a late developer who was discouraged by a backward colonial education system. I made it.

"It was a system that said to me at Francis Patton that I was in the lower second, the lower third or the lower fourth and they did not let you forget that you were in the lower second.

"But I stood above the lower second and I am here to tell you that you can make it if you try.'' Rev. Lowe said that the educational system that he met as a young Bermudian did not take into account those students, like himself, who were late developers.

And this was a problem he explained because "some students take longer to get it together.'' However, he said Bermuda's young people needed to see through the difficulties they experience in the Island's school system because they will not be a threat to anyone as long as they populate the margins of society.

"Don't let a negative system determine your future,'' his booming baritone voice becoming imbued with increasing passion. "Don't let negative people say what your future is going to be.'' And he added that those persons with special responsibility for young people -- teachers, ministers, parents, and coaches -- can make all the difference in a child's life and should try to use positive words when they speak to youth about their performances in school or in sport.

"Bermuda's youth are the most important natural resource that we have,'' he told the gathering. "...pink sand is not our natural resource. The Bermuda onion is not our natural resource...the blue water is not our natural resource although it is here.

"Our young people are our natural resource, and we need to start preaching a positive message to our young people and let them know from Jump Street that they can make it if they try.'' UNIONS UNS