Know Peace

I’m disturbed. That’s not a strong enough word. I’m scared and worried. Just this week one of my millennial friends had a psychotic break and is in the mental hospital. My Gen Z son rejects the notion of a loving God and embraces the idea that trans men can have babies.

Since the beginning of civilization, there have been warring fragments screaming that their ideology is right and your ideology is wrong. It’s as familiar as a nursery rhyme. However, I’ve noticed that the woke movement has reframed this from “I’m right and you’re wrong,” to “I’m right and you’re bad.” Did I offend you with that statement? Good. Before you cancel me, read on.

Somewhere in the last 20 or so years, we have gone from a society of people who wanted to be better- people who sought to understand their place in the world and thought of ways to make their communities more loving and connected – to a collection of individuals screaming that the society needs to change to accommodate their specific hang -ups.

Comfort has replaced character building. As a result, the next generation is floundering. They have low self-awareness and only a few coping tools. Instead of tolerating other ideologies, they scream, “Shut the ‘ef’ up!” They don’t know how to handle it when life delivers a heavy blow- the first heartbreak, a job loss, moving from or to a big city or small town. They simply don’t know what to do, so they demand that others abide by a set of woke rules that are contrary to true connection and brotherhood. Look around y’all. There is less peace.

I get it. It’s much easier to say, “I’m the way that I am because my mother dropped me on my head, and her mother dropped her on her head because she was neurotic,” all the way back to the first humans. It’s hard to accept responsibility. “I am the way that I am because of the decisions I made.”

However, accepting responsibility for oneself creates a great deal of freedom. While the current generation is literally going mad trying to make others change, the reality is that the only person you can change is you.

If we will evolve as a species, it won’t be by validating the concept of gender fluidity or embracing diversity and inclusion. It will be individuals waking up to their own shortcomings and deciding to heal their own frailties. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. When we do this soul-healing work, we unite with others to develop empathy, tolerance, and a true brotherhood of man.