The reprobate generation?

By *Dillon Burgin

Recently, I heard a loud noise (inappropriately called music) coming from a minivan. I also felt the shaking of the ground where I was standing, 70 feet away. I told my son, “I’m sorry for the granny who has to ride those vans with that level of dangerous noise.” His reply was, “They are paying the price for their failure in raising the drivers who subject them to such torture”.

Sadly, I had to concede the point.

In another instance, a young man who I am mentoring came to me one day with a marijuana cigarette in his mouth and he asked me to lend him matches. I immediately realised that he was about to light his “splif”. I said to him, “It is disrespectful to come and ask the pastor to lend you matches so you can light your weed, even though the pastor knows that you smoke the weed and he does not judge you for it. This same pastor has been encouraging you to give up the habit.”

The young man sheepishly smiled and held down his head as if to say, “You really caught me off guard. I thought you would have entertained me.” It is clear that the young man expected me to accommodate him even though we have had conversations about his marijuana habit on several occasions. Somehow he thought that I was cool and non-judgmental enough to have let this slide. However, I knew that anyhow I had slipped up in that moment, I could not stop that runaway train.

My response made him understand that I am actually serious about my faith and about giving guidance to people under my influence. The point I’m making here (and which I made to the young man) is that once upon a time a young person would try to hide his marijuana, cigarette or alcohol from elders who hold a certain position of respect in society — whether they were pastors, principals, or a senior person who is a grandparent on just an elder in the community. They did not ask you for “a light”. Rather, they tried to conceal the item.

The questions we must ask are: Are we seeing a reprobate generation that only cares about itself? Or is it that those of us who are beyond 50 are the reprobate generation who dropped the ball, and now our children and grandchildren are paying us back for dropping?

In another instant, I told my sons that most of the people who are in positions of authority in my country today are people who attended high school with me. They are the ones who are the CEOs, the heads of departments and so forth. Sometime after that boast, one of my sons observed some problems that were highlighted in the news. Also, on a couple of occasions, they observed other things like the lack of maintenance of the drainage systems and roads. Thus, they ask me with a smirk and in a sinister tone of voice, “Who you say is running the country again?” I, too, smiled and I said to them, “My generation.”

 So, the question is, “Who is the reprobate generation?” It would seem that this question takes us back to the people who are now in their ’70s, ’80s or older. A little bit of history might help us to understand that generation.  Note the following:

In the 1940s, entertainment was watching movies, going to sporting events, watching TV, listening to the radio, and going to dances or parties. As a teen, in the 40s, every Friday or Saturday night, you were trying to go to the movies, a party or any type of sporting event.

The early ‘60s looked like the ‘50s. Short hair, jeans, suits, women rarely wore pants — always dresses and skirts, etc. Global politics was charged between the US and USSR. Everything revolved around them — the war, the space race, nuclear arms proliferation, the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Early ‘60s looked like the ‘50s. Short hair, jeans, suits, women rarely wore pants– always dresses and skirts, etc. The global politics were charged between the US and USSR. Everything revolved around them, the war, the space race, nuclear arms proliferation, the Berlin Wall, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. I’m showing here that there was more concern about global affairs and there was deeper involvement in shaping one’s values. Today, the “Me” has totally replaced “we”.

Perhaps one can reasonably argue that the presence of the cell phone with its vast capabilities has made the world closer and an individual’s world much larger. Hence, there appears to be a more informed youth who are more connected globally; but less connected to family and their immediate society. For this reason, social media likes are more important by far to today’s youth than the opinion and guidance of the elders.

The problem we have on our hand is that the “older elders” who are upwards of 70, threw the ball in the wrong direction, and their children who are now in their late 40s and early 50s have totally dropped the ball.

It would seem then, that the “o.g.” reprobate generation has produced two generations of reprobates of which the second one is mercilessly punishing those who came before them.

All this is compounded by the ease that the current youth is enjoying — without the requisite price. It is quite common now to have teenage girlfriends or boyfriends spend the weekend at each other’s house with the knowledge of their parents that these young people are not studying or having Sunday school in the locked bedroom.

Moreover, youth today readily compare themselves with their parents in front of their parents. For example, it is not uncommon to hear a young person say to their parents “This is not fair, you get to do XYZ and I don’t”

They have this sense of entitlement and they actually have a problem with being asked to contribute some effort to the cost of the privilege.

A wise saying comes to mind at this point. “Hard times produce strong men. Strong men produce easy times. Easy times produce weak men”

It seems that we are in the time of weak men and weaker youth. Thus, we must conclude that two generations ago there arose a reprobate generation; and it is now paying the heavy price that is being exacted by the young reprobates. Those of us who are conscientious and we can see this, must get vex enough to pressure our society to exhale from this suffocating chokehold.

*Dillon Burgin is an apostle, author, playwright and entrepreneur.

The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].