Graduation season is upon us here in North Carolina. Emotions run the gamut as young men and women everywhere experience that final trip through the doors of their school as students.
Most will reflect fondly on the days they spent preparing to launch into the world and begin writing their own story. And like every generation before them, both friendships and rivalries they swore would last forever will start to fade as others grow.
Of one thing they can be certain: relationships with fellow students, educators and even their families will all change in some way as they continue their journey through life.
Of all the things which could possibly cause me anxiety, concern for future generations is somewhere near the top of the list. Partly because of their expectations and partly because of the condition of the world we’re leaving them. Not the physical world we leave them, but the condition of mankind in general.
Somewhere along the line, we seem to have taught young people in America that winning is more important than character.
The very people who we need to be able to look up to are failing and falling around us, and we are too quick to condemn and step around them to notice and avoid the brokenness that led them there in the first place.
So can we change the course? Can we raise up a generation of leaders with the intestinal fortitude to right the many wrongs we’ve left them to deal with?
As a person of faith, I believe we can, and it’s really a matter of moral integrity stemming from deep convictions and an acknowledgment of a creator to whom we’re all accountable.
Some will disagree and stop reading right here, so if you’re still with me, maybe we agree — if only a little.
Our real problems begin at home. There’s growing indifference to patterns of behavior eroding families. From what we allow to enter through screens in hand or on the wall to our relationships with our children’s friends and their families, indifference is creeping in.
Everyone knows the phrase “it takes a village,” but when the village steps in with advice, it’s too often taken as a personal affront. Someone stomps away only to return with a posse willing to prove how wrong the offender is and how we can destroy them and their way of thinking.
We can do better. And for the sake of the next generation we’re launching into the world beyond their family home this graduation season, I pray we’ll start soon.