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Pastor’s Corner: Kids these days

By Jeff Clinger, Tonganoxie United Methodist Church - | Oct 9, 2012

“Kids these days … Back when I was a kid … Uphill, both ways, in the snow …” It seems a right of passage that each generation bemoan the one to follow. No respect. No manners. No responsibility. “Kids these days …”

My kids are not quite 4 years and not quite 8 months old. I know the world is a different place for them than it was for me and a very different place than it was for their grandparents. But I have hope. I have hope because “kids these days …”

They have access to information in ways that no previous generation had. They can know and engage with people on the other side of the planet who experience life very differently than they do. They are learning and innovating things that, I believe, can aid them in alleviating many of the significant problems facing our world today. I have hope.

But, I wonder. I wonder if “kids these days” wouldn’t have a better chance of growing up to be remarkable, world-changing adults if they weren’t bemoaned and looked down upon by those of us who have “always done it that way.” I wonder if the impact that “kids these days” ultimately make on the world wouldn’t be greater if we found ways to invest in them. I wonder.

As I wonder, I begin to think. I think about the kids in our community who would benefit from having adults read to them during the after school hours. I think about the kids in our community who need to be affirmed and loved for who they are by adults who genuinely care. I think about the kids who need help with homework. I think about the kids who need food on the weekends in order to reach their fullest potential.

In the Gospels, Jesus speaks of little children and says that the kingdom of heaven belongs to people such as these. I hope that we might take that seriously as a community. I wonder what it would look like if we did. I think about the huge difference it could make in the lives of kids, in our community and in the world.