“Kids Say the Darndest Things” was an American television series hosted by Art Linkletter and co-hosted by Bill Cosby that aired on CBS from 1998 to 2000. Linkletter and Cosby would talk to young children, and everyone would laugh at their responses.

Some of the questions I have been asked by my D.A.R.E. students have made me chuckle over the years. These questions have ranged from, “Did you chase O.J. in your police car?” to “What is your natural hair color?”

But every once in a while, one of my students asks me a question that makes me think, “Wow.” Just such a moment occurred during a recent D.A.R.E. class. This student presented the question in the form of a poem. She first read it in front of her class and then at her D.A.R.E. graduation.

Several of the parents were speechless after they heard the poem. I thought it was so important that I want to share it with you now. This was written by Brenna Dorsey.

Questions

I know that I am just a kid

With growing up to do

The good things that my parents did

I’ll keep doing, too.

I know that I have lots to learn

And lots to figure out

But I have questions and things

I need to know about.

How come older people drink

When I know I never will?

Why do some people do drugs or drink alcohol

Don’t they know that it can kill?

Why do all these friends of mine

Seem to know this stuff?

How do we leave these thoughts behind

When is living like kids not enough?

How come I know things they don’t?

When do I forget?

If kids follow lives when grown-ups do bad things,

Then I’m not ready to grow up yet.

With so much beauty around all of us

And with blessings endlessly

I know that drugs or alcohol

Won’t EVER be in me.

After hearing this poem, it made me realize that kids are always watching and listening. They do not buy the old statement of “Do as I say, not as I do.” They expect their parents and role models to set good examples for them to follow.

Thank you, Brenna, for asking the question. May we as adults provide a good answer.

• Steve Abercrombie is a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program officer, a high school teacher and retired Hayward police officer who’s lived in Tracy for 20 years. He has served on the Tracy City Council since 2006.