Remember your not-so-great high school days? Remember wanting to be respected while being consistently treated as less-than? According to author Eric David Dawson, “the system is set up to be destructive of everybody.” His new book, Putting Peace First: Seven Commitments to Change the World  is a manual for young people. But it is a result of Dawson’s observation of young people initiating and taking action that has made a real difference where more traditional, adult-led efforts have failed. He tracks seven commitments made by high school kids effectively tackling such issues as bullying and police violence. Dawson wrote his book “for anyone who, like I did, is growing up angry.” He tells the kids, “You’ve been lied to,” which not all adults like to hear but his goal is to connect with and inspire young people to persistent peace-making.