A Sad Occurance

I was in a fast food restaurant today and I ordered a hamburger meal (realizing that many in the world today do not have even that simple privilege, and if they do, quite a few do not have the means to act upon it) and I chose a table near the back where I thought I would not be disturbed and sat down to eat.

There was an older woman and a young girl sitting at the table next to me.  The young girl was white, blonde hair, and appeared to be around the age of first or second grade.  The woman appeared to be of Spanish decent (I could not say which) and I was guessing she was the little girls Grandmother.  In the Philippines my wife’s family would call her Lola.

The young girl was acting up.  She clearly was not happy being there and she was acting out in every way imaginable.  She told the lady I perceived to be her Grandmother to “shut up”, that she “was not going to eat her meal” and that she “could do whatever pleased her”.  At one point she picked up some food off the table and threw it at the older lady, started to kick her under the table, and when she was threatened with not getting the toy that came with her meal, quickly grabbed it and proclaimed it hers and that no one else could have it.  At one point the older woman, who was clearly displeased with the way the young girl was acting, mentioned that she was drawing attention to herself and that if she did not behave, they would have to leave.  The young girls reaction was fairly predictable at that point as she proclaimed that she could do what she wanted and that no one could make her leave.

This went on for several minutes until the older woman looked over at me and said to the little girl that “the man sitting at the next table was looking at her wondering why she was being such a bad little girl”,  Of course the little girl did not care.  The little girl continued to carry on her temper tantrum and the older woman looked over at me and told her that I was going to be upset if she did not behave.

I leaned over at this point and addressed the older lady telling her that the little girl probably was not aware that I was a minister.  The little girl immediately looked annoyed and asked “What’s a minister?”.  To which the older lady said “Why don’t you ask him?”  I told the little girl that a Minister was a Pastor, thinking that she might understand that better.  But she quickly replied “What’s a Pastor?”  I told her a Pastor was someone who manages and teaches at a Church.  The next question surprised me a little (although it shouldn’t have), she looked at me and said “What’s a Church?”.  And I thought ‘How do you describe a Church to a first or second grade child that clearly has no context to draw upon’?  I asked her if she had ever passed a Church on her way to school or the store.  And it was clear she still had no context from which to draw upon.  I turned back to my meal thinking that there was no way to make any headway with the little girl and that any further conversation was a lost cause.

Now don’t get me wrong, I was no angel when I was her age (and older).  But I did know what a Church was and I did have some sense of when I was not acting rightly or pleasing to my parents.  This little girl was void of any understanding of a Church, or Religion, or the concept of a God in her life.  And I would argue she was void of any social understanding or of good behavior in general.  She was the center of her own universe and only interested in what pleased her or met her own whim at the moment.  She clearly lacked a Theology in her life.

I have no idea whatsoever of the Theology of the older woman I perceived to be her Grandmother, or her parents, or of any other adult figure in her life.  But I did consider that this is a grave area of failed development in the youth of the world today.  We are literally seeing a generation of children being raised without a concept of God or a Theology all around us in the world today.  And it saddened me.  I left the restaurant despondent at the prospects of where we are headed as a society and as a people trying to make our way in the world today.

If you are agnostic, I get that.  I understand how you would not consider a Religion (any religion) as something that would be of concern or interest to how you live or govern your life.  But consider this, a child without the concept of a Religion is void of an important aspect in their social development.  They have no basis whatsoever for establishing a morality in their own lives and for understanding their purpose in the world.  Would the social interaction and concepts of a Church or a religion be so damaging to a young child that it would rob them of something important in their lives or social development?  I think not.

If you are atheistic, I get that also.  I understand how you may struggle, even abhor religions, and in some extreme cases consider them a danger.  But again, consider the results that we see in our children growing up without the social interaction of a Church.  How can a child make any sense of a grounded science, that of Theology, if they have no concept of what it even provides in their life?  What is so damaging, so uncontrollably horrific that they cannot be taught the tenants of what Religions teach and stand for?

If you are theistic, then there is simply no excuse.  The Jewish and Christian religions teach that you should “Train up a child in the way they should go and when they are older they will not depart from it“.  Other religions at the very least teach one that they should consider the desires of others, trying to make the world a better place.  To be considerate in their actions and to take the path void of conflict unless truly faced with no other choice.

What about you?  Are you concerned with the youth of today?  Clearly the great social experiments in the world today are failing us, developing a generation that is void of any moral understandings or a foundation of a Theology that may very well provide the basis of that moral understanding.

Isn’t it time for us to stop and take stock of what we, as a people, are developing as a future path for the world and ask whether or not we are on the right path?  I think so, and hope you would give it serious consideration as well.