“When I was a child I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” Those words from the bible sometimes give me great pause, for now as an old man I realize that during those care free days of my childhood I sometimes was given a free pass from the realities and complexities of life. But then with adulthood, came responsibilities and with responsibilities came problems and then--- no Mom and Dad. The problems were mine to solve.
As a child my world was like the old adage of, “Snips and snails and puppy dog tails.” Often times it was only what I dreamed it up to be. I went to church with my parents and they taught me to love one another. To not steal or lie or speak ill of others. I Had no biases no preconceived convictions. I did what my parents asked me to do. Then as the years went by, I found that the world my parents brought me up to live in, didn’t really exist anymore and if I wanted to conform, I needed to get with the game. My days of innocence were over. But were they or was I looking for the easy way out?
I look around me today at the world that exists and it bears no resemblance to my world as a child. But be that as it may be, because my days in it are waning. So, this isn’t really about me is it? No, but it is about the family I will be leaving behind. I could list all of the things that have the propensity to change this country as we once knew it and what we seem to be doing to it, but it would be a long list and no one is really interested. If they were, I wouldn’t be writing this would I?
As I dig deeper into the “Who’s” and ‘Why’s” of all this happening, I keep coming back to
one thing. That these people I am so concerned about having to live in this mess-- that
seems to have been created in this world, had little to do with why we are, where we are
today. That somewhere some form of personal responsibility has to be taken by my
generation because we allowed it to happen. It is my hope, my prayer, that today’s
generation will look back and say. You know what? They did have a better way of doing
things on some of this and yes, they were asleep at the switch sometimes but now---well it’s
up to us to fix this.
This is my way of taking some personal responsibility and it’s called contrition. It’s that same
responsibility I talked about at the start of this, that came from leaving my childhood and
becoming an adult. I have always believed that much of the trouble today was never so
much about our children failing us, as us failing our children. I want my sons and daughters
to be better than I was and theirs to be better than they were. That’s the only way progress
can be made. There are those from my generation that will say, “I have done nothing
wrong.”I say come on. Look around you.
A new year is upon us and with it, is a perfect time to make some changes. Let’s make this
a good world for all of us but especially for the ones that will inherit it.
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