Posted by
Paul Derengowski on Tuesday, October 06, 2009 12:00:00 AM
A little over a
week ago a riot broke out in a Chicago area school, with the result
that 16 year-old student was beaten to death. In a Reuter's article
the search is on to try and discover the "root" for not only the teen's
death, but for violence in the U.S. in general. Yet, neither the
death, nor the violence is what piqued my interest when I read through
the article. The question, "Are kids angrier?" did.
Are kids angrier
than they used to be? If so, why? Speculation coming from the article
suggests that Yes; kids are angrier. The reasons? Violence at home.
Violence on streets. Money woes. Even video games are given some of
the credit for making kids more angry and violent than years ago. But,
since the article is talking about root causes, are those really
adequate explanations of why a High School kid would take a wooden
board and whack a 16 year-old in the back of the head, knocking him to
the ground, and then have several other students stomp him to death? I
don't think so.
Imagine a culture
where for fifteen to twenty years of life children have it ingrained in
them that there is no real purpose in life. That when their 70 or 80
years are lived, the best they can hope for is nothing.
Imagine that same
culture inculcating into its children that they are nothing more than
accidents of nature, and in fact, are nothing more than higher level
animals. That survival of the fittest and natural selection are the
only reasons they're still alive, and that in order to succeed in life
one must adopt a "dog eat dog" mentality.
Imagine a culture
of children who are taught relativistic principles concerning right and
wrong, truth and error, moral and immoral, from the time when they're
barely able to tie their shoes until the time they're about to marry.
Where "judge not that ye be not judged" is the perverse mantra of the
day used by those who have no idea just how self-refuting such a
perversion truly is.
Imagine that same
culture of children who have grown up watching moms and dads live
hypocritical lives, and listen to quasi-Christian ministers preach and
teach empty, shallow, narcissistic sermons and lessons. Where
Christian moms and dads put on an air of religiosity on Sunday, but
Monday through Saturday moms and dads indulge themselves with the
finest things the world has to offer, including legalized gambling (the
Lottery), watching television (the average person will spend 12
continuous years sitting and watching TV in his/her lifetime), and soft
or hardcore pornography (50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian
women are addicted to pornography).
Finally, imagine
a culture of children who are inundated daily by fragmented
information, whether on their black berries, television, YouTube, or
whatever, which is delivered with the underlying premise that unless
it's entertaining, then it just isn't worth considering. Where the
quiet contemplative life is replaced by the next text message, the
iTune download, or the latest Taylor Swift video.
The fact is kids
are angrier, not because they're any more poor than they used to be.
They're not any more angrier because of video games. In fact, they're not
any more angrier because mom and dad are. Kids are angrier because
they've been sold a faulty bill of goods in the form of irresponsible,
fallacious, self-centered living by dopey parents and educators, and
the children are rebelling against it.
I've often said
that many of our children are smarter than the adults simply because
they can spot a fraud much easier than the adults can, and many times
the children don't even know they're doing it. How is that possible?
By how the children emulate the adults, including their parents. The
exception is that through sheer innocence of a fallen nature, many of
those children carry out the fraud to its logical conclusion, with the
unfortunate result being that some of those same children don't live
long enough to tell about it.
Children, in
other words, inherently know there is something wrong when moms and
dads don't know when to tell the children No! Children inherently know
that there is something wrong with the "If it feels good, do it"
mentality. Children know there is something wrong when they're told
that they're nothing more than an evolved monkey. And that knowledge
festers to a boiling point, where finally the child erupts in
self-defense against all the irrationality, lies, and distortions.
Sometimes it's self-destructive; at other times others are destroyed,
whether it be a friend, family member (mom, dad, or both), or a
complete rank stranger. One report is that the 16 year-old Chicago
student was killed by friend.
So, are kids
angrier? Absolutely. Do they have a right to be angrier? Again,
absolutely. Wouldn't you, if you had been told a pack of lies for
fifteen to twenty years of your life? Does this mean that one should
condone their expression of anger? Not necessarily, but it is
certainly understandable. What can be done about it? According to the
Reuter's article, join a gang and go to prison, which I think is
totally preposterous. In fact, it is that type of mentality that is
helping to fuel the anger.
The solution is
to change the worldview of those teaching our children, both parents
and educators. But that isn't going to happen until a majority of real
genuine Christians get off their dead lead butts and change their
worldview to make it more consistent with what they claim to be. And
since that isn't likely to happen anytime soon, then we're destined to
see more of what happened in Chicago a week ago, in Tyler, Texas before
that, and at Columbine in Colorado several years ago.