- “The two highest achievements of the human mind are the twin
concepts of “loyalty” and “duty.” Whenever these twin concepts fall into
disrepute — get out fast! You may possibly save yourself, but it is too
late to save that society. It is doomed.”
— Robert A. Heinlein
They allowed the kids back into Columbine High School this week.
In small groups, they retrieved their personal belongings from their
lockers. They were not, however, allowed to go into the library. That is
where they murdered most of the people. That is where these precious
kids lost their innocence.
America is at a crucial turning point. Generation X is turning into
Generation Death. Our children are crying out to us that they need
something that too few of their parents are willing to give them: time,
attention, love and respect. Politicians and the preachers are searching
for scapegoats and answers. To be sure, Hollywood and the video game
manufacturers are partly to blame for the growth of a culture of
violence. However, Hollywood does not conceive kids. Video game
manufacturers cannot force themselves into a child’s life. Kids come
from parents and too many parents are failing their kids.
Listen to the words of Hillary Clinton as she prepares to run for the
U.S. Senate: “We are going to have to do some serious thinking in this
country about how we can take more control over what our children see
and experience.”
“The constant exposure to violence on TV, in the movies, on video
games, in music — there’s much too much evidence that children get
desensitized …” she said. “There’s so much of it. We’re awash in it.
… We can no longer shut our eyes to the impact the media is having on
all our children, and the potentially violent impact it is having on
some of them.”
Hillary added: “We need to stand up and say what needs to be said
about guns and firearms.”
Not one mention of parents. Not one mention of churches. Not one
mention of commitment and duty to children, country and God.
Liberals are convinced that the solution is to ban guns, install
metal detectors at all schools, and hire armed guards to protect our
children. However, what police office will protect what our children
hear and see on television, at the movies or on their computer.
No, my friends, the simplistic liberal answers to this explosion of
school violence don’t work. In fact, we are now seeing the results of
decades of liberal permissiveness, insane ACLU lawsuits, and the idea
that we can get something for nothing.
Nevertheless, liberals are not the only ones responsible for this
carnage. Conservatives have failed also. Too often my conservative
friends have been too comfortable complaining about what is wrong, while
the other side is working to further their nihilistic vision. Too often
my Christian friends worship in segregated churches that would turn away
Jesus if he showed up in a dirty robe and sandals.
Part of the problem is that today’s parents don’t appear to know what
their role should be in raising their children. Part of the problem is
that far too many parents are letting television, video games and the
movies teach their children what it means to be an adult.
In 1923, Kahlil Gibran wrote a book of poems called, “The Prophet.”
Listen to Kahlil as he talks about Children. Do you think the parents of
America’s child murderers understand his words?
- On Children
And a woman who held a babe against her
bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s
longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to
you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which
you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make
them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living
arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with his might that His arrows may go
swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also
the bow that is stable.
Are we doomed, my friends? I don’t think so. Because the solution to
the problem of the disaffected generation is simple. All we have to do
is place parenting ahead of everything else. All we have to do is to
make our children our number one priorities. All we have to do is to
know who they are, what they are learning and love them and work with
them.
Eventually, everyone who is alive will die, but the world will go on
because our children will become adults. If we want that new world to be
one that we are proud of, the time for blame has passed. It is time for
all of us to be the best parents for our children and the children of
the world as possible. It is time for us to make parenting respectable
again.
Who is raising our children, my friend? Are they teaching them about
God and wisdom, or mindless gratification and evil? Our children are
God’s greatest gift to us. Let us not waste this priceless gift.
Syria and America’s bloody diplomacy
Mike Pottage