an Age of Innocence

Have you ever wondered why kids seems to be so much tougher these days?  I work with many students every week and there are a few qualities that most of them have in common.

Most are extremely intelligent.

Most are extremely strong willed.
Most are emotionally stressed.

Most are disconnected from reality.

Most are under motivated.
Most are easily impassioned. 

These characteristics all seem to fall on the post 9/11 generation.

True, this is not your normal memory post spilling over the events of where I was or how I felt or what went through my mind as I watched the second plane fly straight into the second tower.  The only thing that I will say about that day is I was young enough and naive enough to believe that this tragedy had to be some kind a queer error.  No one would openly attack the United States of America.  It was an accident.  A mistake.

I grew up quick that year.

I may have grown up that year, but it seems as if this generation just behind me was born "grown up."

They were born with their innocence lost.  They were born in the midst of two wars.  They were born into a society that fought against itself.  They were born in the age of a cover up. (No, I'm not a truther.)  They were born to see and to question and to doubt.

As the helplessness and godlessness of our culture continues to saturate our society, they are, literally attacked by adults and other students who want nothing more than to destroy their lives.  In my mind I have this mental image of little monsters and big monsters chasing these students around the halls of their campuses and into our homes and just sucking the life and soul out of them.

They have to be strong...or maybe emotionally distant is a better description.  They are under attack.

And that is just...well,...sad.

To think that they will never believe that a humanity has an immense capability to love and to do good.  To think that they will never know what true peace on earth could look like.  They will always question and always doubt.  They will always analyze and look for the cracks in the truth.  They will relate the present heavenly Father's love with the "love" of their absent earthly father.  They will justify their mother's lack of affirmation with the belief that they are worth nothing.

But in spite of these negiative possibilities we must remember this: they are only possibilities.  Maybe God put these characteristics in this generation knowing the challenges of the age they would live in.  Maybe He gave them the strength to stand up against the injustice.  Maybe He gave them the wisdom to ask the tough questions and demand answers that make sense and work.  Maybe He chose this generation to be the greatest of all.

I don't have the privilege of being a parent just yet, but that is a blessing that I often pray for.  When I do have children entrusted to my care, I hope that God grants me the wisdom to see the possibilities of their lives...to see that they are a generation destined for greatness and not calamity.  

May I challenge you with this thought?  When your children are driving you to the brink of insanity with their questions and their strong willed spirit think how God could use that for His glory.  How He could literally change the course of history with one person who is sold out and dedicated to the purpose of restoring justice to the world. 

The events of 9/11 may have robbed be of my innocence, but it will never rob me of my hope--a hope for a brighter peaceful future.  A hope for a world full of life, love, and children.