April 18, 2002 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Daniel Whitehead Treanor, who died a few weeks ago at the age of 15 1/2, was an all-American boy. An enthusiastic Little Leaguer, devoted fan of the Baltimore Orioles, Boy Scout, voracious reader and student of history, dedicated volunteer, and young entrepreneur, he had everything but his health.
He achieved his extraordinary accomplishments despite a five-and-a-half-year painful struggle against brain cancer. Several operations, radiation, chemotherapy, and two harsh bouts of shingles could not dim his enthusiasm for life, nor his optimism.
He had to leave school during the fifth grade, but he continued his studies and many activities with boundless energy until his body gave out. Instead of preoccupying himself with his problems, he spent his energies comforting and advising other young patients at Children’s Hospital, in Washington, D.C. There, he organized a drive to obtain more than 300 videos suitable for teenagers.
At the age of 13 Danny started a business, Buttons 4 U, which provided custom-made buttons and badges for a wide range of buyers. He was named an Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. No end exists to the things he might have done had he had more time.
Danny Treanor exemplifies the many young people with generous hearts and boundless energy whom the nonprofit world must do a better job of seeking out and attracting to its causes. Thousands like Danny — youngsters of all races and ethnic backgrounds — have led and are leading lives marked by courage, productivity, caring, and service. Yet, not only do we fail to read or hear about them, but often they are invisible to the philanthropic world as well.
To be sure, spotting young people like Danny isn’t always easy. Their work often is eclipsed by a culture whose prevailing images are shaped by a profit-hungry media industry that prizes self-centeredness and sleaze above virtue and benevolence.
Increasingly, we are bombarded with stories and pictures of movie celebrities, glitzy lives, wealthy donors, high-flying corporate executives, corrupt politicians, and violent criminals. It took the September 11 tragedy for the news media to focus on firefighters and policemen who daily give themselves and risk their lives at low pay for the protection of our safety and social order.
This is a nation of great but ordinary people who form the essential fabric of our society. They are the glue that holds us together. But they don’t seem to be important enough to warrant the attention of our image makers and media executives.
Who are dished up to our young people as potential role models? Young athletes who don’t graduate from college and therefore face uncertain futures. A Britney Spears whose modest singing and dancing talent doesn’t match the immodesty of her persona. Politicians like former President Bill Clinton, whose lying, cheating, and political fund-raising improprieties left the presidency belittled, if not disgraced. Corporate CEO’s who are paid obscene sums to run companies that pollute, violate safety standards, produce defective goods, and set artificially high prices for their products. Criminals who are glorified in the movies and on TV.
The Dannys of this world are different. They believe in community service and civic engagement. They don’t have money to give but they provide the social capital that makes our society prosper. Their wealth and appeal can be found in their vigor and zeal for helping others and improving society.
For the nonprofit world, so bereft of leadership and courage, young people like Danny are the hope for the future. They are the pool of talent from which future generations of leaders will have to come. But they need encouragement, applause, and support. They must know that the public appreciates their efforts, and that their sense of responsibility and community service will be rewarded. Otherwise, it is easy for their hearts and minds to be captured and exploited by the negative role models that pervade our world.
Are our news-media institutions willing to shift, even slightly, their focus to accommodate this need? Or will they continue to pander to the lowest common denominator among us? Foundations, through their financing of media groups, should be doing more to influence this issue.
And will the nonprofit world do more to elevate the good works of our youth above the examples of sordidness and sloth that infect our culture?
Danny Treanor, and the countless other young people like him, deserve no less.
Pablo Eisenberg is senior fellow at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute and a member of the executive committee of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. He is a regular contributor to these pages. His e-mail address is pseisenberg@erols.com.
