Back in 2001, a group of teenagers gathered in Columbia to name a yet to be born youth movement. They came up with Rage Against the Haze. They also attached to the name a little used and forgotten motto, which happened to be on the state seal: “Dum Spiro Spero.” “While I breathe I hope” captured the attention of these young trailblazers because they felt it was ironic. Ironic that a state would use the words breathe and hope in a state seal in a state that had some of the highest youth smoking rates in the US and some of the highest tobacco related illnesses.

Today, I hold back tears just thinking of those early days, working with those teens and supporting them in their beliefs that they can make a difference in a person’s life one person at a time. I believe we get very few opportunities to really empower our youth and help them see their potential as citizens and helping their peers make a better choice.

Oddly, this simple homegrown plan from the teens has been successful at the teen level and mostly misunderstood at the adult level. In six years over 6000 South Carolina teenagers have been touched by RAGE, over 1000 have been trained by RAGE teens in a curriculum mix of empowerment, expression, and education. RAGE has won awards from national Addy’s to Effie’s. But the greatest achievement is the teens themselves fighting against a roller coaster of adult disengagement from funding to public support the teen smoking rate has dropped from 36 percent in ‘01 to 19 percent in ‘07. In that same period we have not had a single cigarette tax increase. South Carolina is “proud” to be the lowest cigarette taxer in the US — 7 cents per pack. One interesting fact: the surveys that show the decrease in teen smoking were only made possible by RAGEers petitioning schools to allow the surveys in their schools.

In six years we have seen RAGE veterans go from high school to college and then into the work force, we’ve seen them go off to do foreign studies from Spain to Australia and take college sabbaticals to work on presidential campaigns. And you know what? They always call us to help with a RAGE event on a Friday night.

To be realistic, RAGE would have died an early death if it weren’t for our client SC DHEC (South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control) and some fairy godparents like The State Newspaper and the fiery opinions they have written on the subject. Gene Beckman who has written $75,000 worth of checks to make sure the RAGE teens keep doing what they do. And to the many adults like Ryan and teachers that support our RAGE teens in their hometowns across the state.

Once again RAGE is at the center of politics: our state legislature voted against the tobacco tax increase and then removed all youth prevention funds from the state budget. I’m not going to get into state politics other than to say, “What message does this send to the teens of South Carolina?”

I write this blog post not just because I’m an employee of Brains On Fire, even though I’m so proud of BOF and how RAGE is supported by the family here dedicating time, talent and sweat. My reason for writing is more personal. I’m a father of a 14-year-old daughter who is just one of those 6000 RAGEers. She has given up weekends and summer days just to meet other teens and talk about the choice of not smoking. My daughter has been affected by smoking in her life from the loss of grandparents to watching throat cancer suck life out of her uncle. Her young story is amplified over and over in this state.

RAGE was built to survive even if the budget got hit by a bus, and it will survive at least for another year thanks to some dedicated teenagers, RAGE veterans, and some awesome adult supporters.

Dum Spiro Spero.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 7:14 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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