Exporting to the Americans

The Northland Age has inadvertently created an internet sensation, with a page 3 brief published two years ago being picked by social media and shared tens of thousands of times worldwide.

It all began with a Northland College newsletter in April 2010, Principal John Tapene quoting an American judge's tough advice for bored teenagers (in 1959).

The Age reproduced it in May 2010, and has now re-appeared, slightly edited, in other newspapers, sometimes misattributed to a Brisbane Youth Court judge, as well as hundreds of blogs and websites dealing with everything from parenting to making money.

In its latest incarnation, some 15,000 Facebook users shared 'Words for teenagers' after it was posted by a Canadian radio station. An Alaska-based parenting blog (I've Got Gremlins) attracted another 500 'shares' and several thousand 'likes' after placing the story on its Facebook page.

And earlier this week the Age was able to export it back to the US, in response to a request from an organisation in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The judge's message has attracted praise and criticism in almost equal measure. It certainly has thousands of people talking, which Mr Tapene said was his intention all along, although he hadn't expected those discussions to go global.

He said he didn't agree with everything the judge had said, but put it in the newsletter to challenge people's thinking and promote debate. He had since received emails from around the world.

The Age story from 2010:

Northland College Principal John Tapene has offered the following words from a judge who regularly deals with youth.

"Always we hear the cry from teenagers, 'What can we do, where can we go?' My answer is, go home, mow the lawn, wash the windows, learn to cook, build a raft, get a job, visit the sick, study your lessons, and after you've finished, read a book.

"Your town does not owe you recreational facilities and your parents do not owe you fun. The world does not owe you a living, you owe the world something. You owe it your time, energy and talent so that no one will be at war, in poverty or sick and lonely again. In other words, grow up, stop being a cry baby, get out of your dream world and develop a backbone, not a wishbone. Start behaving like a responsible person.

"You are important, and you are needed. It's too late to sit around and wait for somebody to do something someday. Someday is now and that somebody is you."