The following article was in the editorial section of the Dallas Morning
News on Sunday, May 2, 1999.
Generation NEXT has some Questions
I am a member of the upcoming generation--the one after Generation X thathas yet to be given a name. So far, it appears that most people are
rallying behind the idea of calling us Generation Next. I believe I know
why.
The older generations
are hoping
we will mindlessly assume our place as the
"next" in
line.
That way, they won't have to explain why my generation has
had to experience so much
pain and heartache. "What heartache?" you say.
"Don't you know you have
grown
up in a time of great prosperity?" Yeah, we
know that. Believe me, it
has been drilled into our heads since birth.
Unfortunately, the pain
and
hurt I speak of can't be reconciled with money.
You have tried for years
to
buy us happiness, but it is only temporary.
Money isn't the answer,
and
it is time for people to begin admitting their
guilt for failing my
generation.
I will admit that I
wasn't
planning to write this. I was going to tuck it
away in some corner of my
mind and fall victim to your whole "next"
mentality. But
after the Massacre in Littleton, CO, I realize that as a
member of this generation
that kills without remorse, I had a duty to
challenge all of my elders
to explain why they have allowed things to become
so bad.
Let me tell you this:
These
questions don't represent only me but a Whole
generation that is
struggling
to grow up and make sense of this world. We
all have questions; we all
want explanations. People may label us
Generation Next, but we
are
more appropriately Generation "Why?"
* "Why did most of you lie when you made the vow of 'til death do us part'?"
* "Why do you fool
yourselves
into believing that divorce really is better
for the kids in the long
run?"
* "Why do so many of
you divorced
parents spend more time with your new
boyfriend or girlfriend
than
with your own children?"
* "Why did you ever
fall victim
to the notion that kids are just as well off
being raised by a complete
stranger at a day care center than by their own
mother or father?"
* "Why do you look down
on
parents who decide to quit work and stay home to
raise their children?"
* "Why does the television do the most talking at family meals?"
* "Why is work more important than your own family?"
* "Why is money regarded as more important than relationships?"
* "Why is 'quality
time' generally
no longer than a five-to-10-minute
conversation each day?"
* "Why do you try to
make up
for the lack of time you spend with us by
giving us more and more
material
objects that we really don't need?"
* "Why does your work
(in the
form of a cell Phone, laptop computer, etc.),
always come with us on
vacations?"
* "Why have you neglected to teach us values and morals?"
* "Why haven't you lived moral lives that we could model our own after?"
* "Why isn't religion one of the most important words in our household?"
* "Why do you play God when it comes to abortion?"
* "Why don't you have
enough
faith in us to teach us abstinence rather than
safe sex?"
* "Why do you allow us
to watch
violent movies but expect us to maintain
some type of childlike
innocence?"
* "Why do you allow us
to spend
unlimited amounts of time on the Internet,
but still are shocked
about
our knowledge of how to build bombs?"
* "Why are you so afraid to tell us 'no' sometimes?"
* "Why is it so hard
for you
to realize that school shootings, and other
violent juvenile behavior,
result from a lack of your attention more than
anything else?"
Call us Generation Next
if
you want to, but I think you will be surprised at
how we will fail to fit
into
your neat little category. These questions
should, and will, be asked
of the generations that have failed us.
Written by Marcy Musgrave, a junior at Texas A&M University.
LET US PRAY:
Lord, forgive us our sins,
and sanctify us. AMEN!
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