These Kids Today!
I will say right off the bat: There are some exceptional young people
today. Against the backdrop of the
“normal”, they are nothing short of heroic.
If you are one, please know that I recognize, value, and salute your
existence. You have more “grit” than I.
Solomon
observed; Prov 22:15 Foolishness is bound in
the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from
him.
By
“children” I am speaking of teen to early twenties. A certain amount of “foolishness” is
unavoidably bound in their hearts but I chalk that up to childish
irresponsibility, not malevolence.
Wisdom takes time. However, the
environment in which today’s kids live allows them to take that foolishness to
depths unprecedented since perhaps the days of Noah.
Now
humor me as I tell you what it was like “when I was your age”. The rod of correction was used on me. Mom and Dad stayed together. I was the first to an “old time” church each
time the doors were opened and the last to leave. I was kept very busy. I had a paper route, mowed yards, was in Boy
Scouts, 4H, dug ditches for the city, milked cows, helped my grandpa with farm
work, and handled tens of thousands of hay bales over a 7 year stretch. When night fell, I was in bed because I was
tired. I went straight from High School
into a Bible College with strict rules, and straight from there into the
ministry. So was I a paragon of virtue? Maybe not.
Foolishness was in my heart also, but providence didn’t give me a chance
to explore it. I have always said that I
would have had to work as hard to get into trouble as today’s kids have to work
to stay out of it.
Current
youth have no more propensity toward foolish behavior than my childrens’
generation, nor my generation, nor any preceding; but again, several factors in our modern
culture have enabled them to take the propensity they do have to extremes. Some of these factors are as follows: Access to media that exploits
foolishness// Technologies to access
evil// God free school
environments// Fragmented families//
Churches that go shallow on Biblical teaching and pander to narcissism// A relativist culture// Tarnished “role models”// Less parental sacrifice, vigilance,
intervention// Laws prohibiting kids
from laying block or working concrete all day.
No more yards to mow or ditches to dig.
Too much fear of liability by potential employers. Farmers don’t make many small bales of hay
anymore and have the youngsters buck them and wrestle them under a tin roof at
140 degrees. You can probably name
others. A lot of those “juices” that
make the young vulnerable can be “sweat out”.
Were
I to say about today’s youth, “Aw, they’re just being kids!” or something like
“Well, we were all young once.” I would be in denial. The majority of them are just plain bottom
feeders. Hyperbolic? If you think I am, then what percentage of
15+ year olds would you say haven’t been gassed on Bud Light or huffed or
puffed or snorted or popped or shot up?
What percentage do you think are still virgins?? If they are, what percentage would you say
are ashamed of it?? In any case, you
dare not spank them. You may cause a
brain injury.
Their
language is a bellwether because: Matt 12:34 for out of the abundance
of the heart the mouth speaketh. I have noticed a shift from profanity to
obscenity. I think this has been led by
most forms of media. I am curious about
this shift. I define profanity as
blasphemy, a violation of the 3rd commandment.
I define obscenity as that warned against in Ephesians 5:4 Neither filthiness (aischroitees), nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather
giving of thanks. “Aischrotees” in the Greek denotes offensive or filthy
language, not necessarily a taking of the Lord’s name in vain. Aischrotees may vary from culture to culture,
but it is designed to be offensive to other people. My generation was into
projecting a “devil may care” personae by poking God in the eye with
profanity. It was God Who took the
brunt. Today’s obscenities are aimed
specifically at other people. To rankle them. To show not only a lack of respect, but an
attitude of hostility toward others. The
young need to be careful of their belligerence, for some elderly are growing
hostile toward the young. Our “system”
is reducing old folks to the point that they have nothing to lose, and that
makes them dangerous. Very
dangerous. Many have lost their
faith. There is nothing left to
intimidate them. Prison or the Nursing
home makes no diff. They have nothing
left but an M1 semi automatic and plenty of ammo. They may decide to go out in a blaze of glory
by wasting an obstreperous young person.
Remember: 2 Kings 2:23-24
And he (Elisha) went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up
by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him,
and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and
cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of
the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
Despite all this juvenile decadence, I am not
ready to hang my harp on the willows yet as the Israelis did when they finally
knuckled under to the Babylonian captivity.
Let me offer some reasons why.
I
am not evolutionist to the point that I preclude the necessity of God as the
original cause and present sustainer;
but I do believe that the world He has made tends to “cull” the herd. I believe it because I have seen it. Humans do not want to be “culled”. Not wanting to be culled is called “survival
instinct”, and wanton behavior will put a man in touch with his survival
instinct. Witness the prodigal.
Part
of the “foolishness” bound up in the heart of a child is that he believes the
avenue to freedom is through anarchy. He
entertains fantasies that he would survive and thrive under such an economy,
and achieve the greatest amount of fulfillment from life.
In
1979 an Australian movie called “Mad Max” was made. The plot is about how the world would be when
oil supplies were depleted. Governments
collapse. There is no law. Only the strongest survived, until someone
stronger came along. The herd was culled
until there was no one left except the most deviant and violent and they were
battling down to the last man standing.
This movie spawned a genre of movies called “dystopian” (characterized
by human misery brought on by overcrowding).
Many video games built on this concept have also proliferated. The hero is the survivor and that survivor
is the most ruthless.
Children
are foolish enough to believe that they would be that survivor.
My
generation was the 60’s and early 70’s.
“We” (comprehensively speaking) tried “it” (anarchy). Free drugs, free sex, “free” food (usually
stolen). “Woodstock” became the
signature microcosm. Several other
microcosms called “communes” were attempted;
but evolution ensued. One person was full and the other one hungry. All the women only wanted to sleep with the
handsome guys and all the men only wanted to sleep with the pretty women. Humans just cannot tolerate injustices like
these. One worked blisters on his hands
while the other sat in the shade stoned on his drug of choice. The communes were short lived because sooner
or later, there had to be “rules”; the
very things “we” detested. “Who will
make these rules?” “Who will interpret
these rules case by case?” “Who will
enforce these rules?” “Let’s take a
vote.” “Oh oh! Oh oh!” Sounds like a democracy to me. A self appointed tyrant said “We ain’t
votin’! I’m the biggest guy here and
I’ll make the rules! Any objections?” “Oh oh!
Oh oh!” Sounds like a
dictatorship to me.
Then
one day “we” looked into a mirror and saw our first grey hair (or lack of hair
where there used to be some.) “We” got
to counting the Winters we had weathered, and there had been 30 some. The commune had long since dissolved. Billy decided he didn’t want to play anymore
and took his VW van home. And “we” found
ourselves alone. We looked down and our ribs were sticking out like those of a
P.O.W. The drugs didn’t make us feel
good any more, but “we” had to do them just to keep from feeling like we had
been stripped and dragged through prickly pear behind a scared horse. “We” were going to have to knock off another
liquor store. “We” decided to make one
more score, and swallow the whole bag, and that would be it.
But
some of “us” decided that breathing is nice.
“We” took the cure. “We” took
that job cleaning toilets and windshields at the truck stop. “We” saw the truckers get out on hot Summer
days with sweat on the back of their shirts.
“We” got an idea. “We” thought of
a wicker seat cover that had thin nylon tubing woven through it. A tiny circulating pump could be plugged into
the power point. A little reservoir of
water could be mounted in front of an air conditioning vent. “We” would call them “Cool Backs”. We set up a hand made sign with a
slogan: “No cool front ahead? Put a
‘Cool Back’ behind”. “We” thought that
we could make them and set a few up in the truck stop for sale. “We” kept cleaning toilets and lived in a
tent and soaked pinto beans until we had saved enough to have a grub stake. We
made a down payment on a little shop and we started a business. “We” worked all day there and slept a few
hrs. there. Word got around that our
seat covers helped. “We” started turning a profit. We plowed the money back into R&D and
refined our product. A big truck stop
chain called and ordered a thousand to display in their stores. “We” found some of our old friends who
decided breathing is good. “We” hired
them.
Time
passed and one day “we” met this other person that we liked so much that we
wanted to be with them alone and they wanted the same, so we saw the Justice of
the Peace. And “we” wanted to give
another person life. And another. And “we” put on some weight. And “we” got more grey hairs. And “we” got wrinkles beside our eyes from
smiling often. And “we” became what “we”
used to curse; all because breathing is
better than not breathing.
If
no one else will take the responsibility of whipping you, life itself has a way
of whipping the foolishness out of you;
and that’s why I haven’t hung my harp on the willows.
If
you are a teen or twenty something, “we” were the people you are. “We” are the people you swear you will “never turn
into.” Oh oh!
