The weather yesterday was exquisite. I had the privilege of being outside for a while and engaged in an aimless walk. During my time “out” I came across this,
Now I understand the investment of some $60,000 (give or take “ten g’s”) might make the owner a little skittish about parking lot damage, but I say, “Too bad!” If the car is too valuable to use only one parking space in a completely FULL parking lot, the owner probably should not be patronizing places where valet parking is not mandatory.
The photo is a window into an entire generation and this horrifies me. While this vehicle is most likely owned by an “X-er”or a “Boomer” The people our culture is currently making are all about parking in two spaces because, “They deserve it.” Don’t believe me? Take up Generation iY, by Dr. Tim Elmore.
Elmore’s book takes an inside view of the generation coming, allowing those of us ahead in years to confront what kind of mess we are creating. Here are a few of far too many quotable, quotes:
In 2007, the American College Health Association surveyed the largest randomized sample of college students since its inception. Their study revealed that:
- 94 percent of students reported feeling overwhelmed by their lifestyles.
- 44 percent said they felt so depressed it was almost difficult to function.
- Almost 10 percent had considered suicide in the past year.
In the early 1950s…only 12 percent of teens aged fourteen to sixteen agreed with the statement ‘I am an important person.’ By the late 1980s, an incredible 80 percent–almost seven times as many–claimed they were important.
These kids really do desire to change the world; they just don’t have what it takes to accomplish their lofty dreams. When the work becomes difficult, they change their minds and move on to something else. The new term for them is “slactivists”–they are both slackers and activists.
60 percent of college graduates return home with no plan.
The [Michigan] university’s Institute for Social for Social (sic) Research looked at 72 studies that gauged empathy among 14,000 students over 30 years. Empathy has been in a steep decline, especially since 2000. The research finds that students today display 40% less empathy than students in the 1980s and 1990s. Spokesperson Sara Konrath said one reason students are less empathetic may be that people are having fewer face-to-face interactions, communicating instead through social media such as Facebook and Twitter.
And since Mother’s Day is this upcoming Sunday…
The day after Mother’s Day 2006 USA Today carried an article on what young people had given their moms for this special day. Thousands had decided to give themselves gifts in honor of their mothers! The gifts ranged from getting a haircut to putting money in their own bank account to cleaning up their apartment. And the mothers were pleased with those gifts! The children played such a central role in their own happiness that mothers felt good about the vicarious gift…By overemphasizing self-esteem and underemphasizing (sic) qualities like unselfishness and responsibility, adults made it easy for these kids to be consumed with self.
The book is not all gloom and doom. Dr. Elmore does try to find the “bright side” in the iY generation and offers many opportunities for the “elders” to maximize this generation’s unique abilities. From my cultural perch, unless we “adults” quickly find some integrity and discover the ability to impart and imbue wisdom to our children, this generation may just be the next-to-last American generation.
Everybody knows “Z” is the end.
“Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together! My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. ” (Psalm 49:1–3, ESV)
TheNarrowRoadPursued 
The word “deserved” sends chills up my spine! I deserve a new car, I deserve a raise, I deserve better treatment, on and on and on! If we seriously think about it, the only thing we really deserve is “death”! The only deserving one is Jesus Christ! Sorry I’ve held that in for a long time. It felt good to get out.
I agree with you wholeheartedly…and am grateful for a bit of “web therapy”! Thanks for commenting.
Boy have you hit on a hard spot, particularly where you are at home. I think of the scripture where Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and berates them for not taking care of their parents, or making excuses for not doing so. As a parent, it was and is so very hard to say “no” or “suffer through it” to my children even when they are adults…but allowing them the privilege of being directly responsive to God who loves and desires that relationship of trust with them is so hard…it doesn’t satisfy my flesh nor does it make me feel important to them. Parents since post WWII, for some strange reason have, for the most part equated love of their children with materialism, lack of pain, and being friends/buddies with them instead of parents. We provide our girls with birth control to prevent the pain of being a woman, our boys with condoms to prevent them having to learn how to ‘control their own vessels’, shots to prevent disease that they can’t get in any way except narcissistic sexual activity. We talk to them “frankly about drugs” but only from the perspective of the damage it does to themselves–never the damage it does to others, nor the suffering for which they are responsible. We take responsibility for our children’s children financially, and emotionally while our children deny their responsibility, work two jobs to support their toys and lifestyle–and we call that love. It is a short, dark road and at the end is a whole Godless society of pseudo adults whose noses are stuck so far into their own navels they don’t feel any sort of responsibility or love for anyone but themselves. It is no wonder that they are hopeless and unable to find a relationship with our Lord that satisfies the deepest needs of their souls. It breaks my heart of flesh to not be the most important part of my children’s lives…but since when is the comfort of my flesh more important than the spiritual lives of any one of my children? That is sin to me and how desperately I wish that parents (of children of all ages) would bite the bullet and allow God to be God in the lives of their children, not themselves. Your example of Mother’s Day giving was such a prime example of the selfishness of both the children and the mothers themselves. How very tragically sad it is when “love” becomes equated only with material sacrifice…no wonder younger generations have such a hard time relating to God…He is no “sugar daddy.”
I love the “damage done to others” phrase…our culture prides itself justifying actions because “it’s not hurting anybody.” Part of the process must be awaking from this self-delusion.
A good post to comment quickly on the little book, Crowd Culture. Bob loaned this to me and I have passed it along to my wife and my parents to read, once digesting it myself. Worth careful study by anyone who sees the madness and Godlessess that is destroying society, culture, and the world.
The world needs the true “ekklesia” more than ever, those who have been called out of the way of the world to follow a different King (other than self) and then deployed back to that same world to show it how to truly live. Few will hear, fewer still will heed the call — but it’s the only life worth pursuing, as far as I can figure.
Thanks, Bob, for these little, nearly-daily reminders of where to keep our focus. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Glad you thought Crowd Culture was worthwhile…I go back and read from it regularly just to make sure the impact it had on my thinking wasn’t just a passing fancy. I can’t wait to delve into other things Iddings Bell wrote.
As a parent myself, I bought into a phrase I heard repeated over and over again. It’s a phrase that causes me to shudder when I hear it now, partly because I bought into it for so many years. “My goal is to see to it that my children are better off than I was and am. I want a better life for them.” Now that phrase has taken on a new meaning. I believe the majority of parents that say this are referring to material items and a life of luxury and and pleasure, or as you put it “slactivists”. Now I see this phrase as something different, far deeper than most. “My goal is to see to it that my children are better off than I was” meaning a deep relationship with their Savior and our Lord. A better spiritual life and relationship with Christ is what we should all strive for. As parents we should, no, we MUST raise our children to be arrows and make a positive impact far beyond themselves in the world we reside in. If we all worked on this goal, then our roles as parents would be fulfilled. Teaching the next generation to give the Lord what is his and trusting that he will take care of your needs (not your WANTS!) is truly giving them a better life!
Great perspective Greg! So glad God changed your mind. BTW many sociologists and economists are saying that because of our generation’s debt load and our propensity to spend the inheritance given to us that this generation will be the first American generation who will not be more “wealthy” than the previous generation. Unfortunately it is the most ill equipped for a “step back.” All the more reason to be diligent to offer another vision…the vision we should have introduced originally.