Done. We’re through.
We have already spent too much time away from that which we should.
It’s time for a change.
In Medieval lore, knights would stare dragons in the eye.
In Oriental tradition, young Asian boys consider it a matter of honor to defend and protect that which is important.
My grandfathers started down the barrels of guns in defiant protest of foreign invasion.
My generation has lost this sense of bravery, of nobility.
The norm has become to fight for nothing, to live so deconstructed that only the trivial things in life (if any) receive the mildest of commitment and effort.
We are the escaping generation.
Whether our problems truly are all the more disturbing or our circumstances genuinely the more challenging, my generation is emotionally gridlocked in a paralysis of passivity.
We escape hurt through denial – after all, abuse carries deceptive shame and survival demands that life must go on.
We escape inner turmoil through entertainment and superficiality.
The dissonance that cannot be satiated or resolved can be forgotten for a moment in the face of busyness or be drowned out in the party.
We escape loneliness through the presences of acquaintances we have never allowed close enough to see who we really are.
We escape the betterment of our worldview by clinging to the little we can be sure of.
Ideas, whether new or old, stimulate and terrify us at the same time.
We escape the pain of growth by claiming it to be a violating manipulation of our identity – in some cases a raping of our souls.
What cares me most is that we are not a weak generation.
We have accepted pain as a part of our lives and inevitable to our existence.
The strength needed for such a dysfunctional coping mechanism is more than sufficient to actually address the issues at hand – but we don’t.
My generation continues to escape because the threat of what could happen seems too terrifying to overcome – but not anymore.
To my generation I propose this: DEAL WITH IT!
It’s time to take responsibility, step up and deal with life and deal with reality.
It’s time to stop seeking validation for your feelings of violation and start seeking restoration.
It’s time to stop justifying your complaining and critical attitudes and start working toward a solution.
It’s time to dig up the past, call it what it is and allow God access to what has hurt you so deeply.
It’s time to get outside your own head and think about someone else for a change –
you’re not the only one with issues.
I envision a renaissance of the knights of old staring down dragons – a generation standing unwavering as the flames inch closer.
Holding ground and resolutely plunging a sword into the heart of that which, honestly, fears us most.
This is the mark of a generation fully alive – it’s time to wake up.
