EDITORIAL : MAKING A DIFFERENCE; CHILDREN AND TEENS INSPIRE US ALL.

What's the matter with kids today?

How often we all have wondered that from time to time. But the misdeeds of the few often obscure the great achievements of the many as front page stories in the Daily News showed Thursday.

The truth is that tales of inspiration often come in small packages.

The example set by 6-year-old Brendan Koch of Woodland Hills gives hope to the thought that selfishness hasn't completely overtaken every person on the planet.

Granted, Brendan initially set up his lemonade stand to raise money for a Nintendo set he wanted - a lesson about luxuries that his parents felt was important to teach him.

That changed when he heard about some kids who didn't have all the things he enjoyed.

So the kindergartner decided to pass on buying Nintendo and turn his $100 in profits over to his teacher at St. Mel's School in Woodland Hills to help students at St. Odilia's School in East Los Angeles.

There was youthful triumph of a different sort in the story of teen-agers in Panorama City who helped each other through school, to deal with difficulties, to face the death of a parent through the Blythe Street Prevention Project.

Students Esmeralda Virgen, Hugo Gomez Garcia and Nora Longoria graduated from Monroe High School on Thursday because they helped each other push, study, strive and survive with the help of the Blythe Street project.

The youth program run by the San Fernando Valley Partnership gave students a place to learn and help each other to grow and find the motivation to achieve.

It's stories like these that not only give us hope but also inspire us to work harder to create more opportunities that help the disadvantaged to help themselves.

A younger generation is coming up that through all the dangers, through exposure to too much sex and violence on television and in movies, through all the freedom, still is growing tall and strong and capable of building on the legacy of their parents.

For ordinary people, so much of our lives are a devotion to our children. The reward is to see them growing up as solid citizens, taking pride in themselves and committed to helping others to make it a better world.