Bill’s Front Porch

October 26, 2006

What is the difference??

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 8:27 am

I was told recently that the light is out on the porch and there are cobwebs that need to be cleaned out so I am spring cleaning in the fall to get things back in order. It is beautiful to sit on the porch in the fall and watch the leaves change. God truly is incredible. I wonder what heaven is going to be like if it just took 6 days to create all of this beauty! He has been working on heaven and my house for a lot longer than that!!

Anyway, I wanted to talk about Sr. Adults and what is the difference between that generation and me. Malda has been in my office twice in the last week for prayer for the mission team from our church. She is a Sr. Adult lady that has been involved in her church and in missions for longer than I have been alive! It was just a simple gesture, but it got me to thinking. She just bent over (not an easy task for one her age) and picked up a dime and put it on my desk. Didn’t say anything, just set it there. She started saying something else, but I didn’t hear her because my mind had changed channels at that point (watch the ADD comercial) and I got to thinking about how many times I have stepped over that same dime and just left it lying there. It puzzled me why she, in her age, had bothered to pick it up and me, not nearly as old, chose not to. Well, a few days later she was in my office again. One of the secretaries had slid a piece of junk mail under my door. I left it there as I was busy getting the day going (it was morning and I would pick it up later). Well, you guessed it. She came in, we prayed, and she picked it up and left it on my desk. By this time I am feeling a little ashamed that a Sr. Adult lady was having to pick up after me! Well, I let that one pass too. So later on I am listening to talk radio or WLBF and I hear an interview with someone (I had just gotten in my car and came in on the middle of it) and they were talking about how morality has changed. The person being interviewed said something very interesting. He said that the World War II generation was a special generation. That they shined the brightest when things were the darkest. Very few generations have come up to their level of commitment and giving. Since the ensuing generations could not come up to this level of morality and generosity, they just changed to rules for living so they would not have to. I’ll let that sink in for a moment………………………………………………… I wonder if that is not true. Maybe these two incidents have nothing in common, but maybe they have everything in common. Ms. Malda picked those things up off of my floor because it was the right thing to do and didn’t even think about it. It wasn’t a fluke because she did it twice. She didn’t really do it for me per say because it was done without thinking. It was just so ingrained in her that she just did it. I hope that you all can take this further because I know what I am feeling, I am just having a very hard time putting it into words. Have a good day and try to be kind to a Sr. Adult today.

« Feels Good Out Here! Nice to be out on the porch »

11 Comments »

She must have wiped away the cobwebs as well. What a revealing look at where life has turned over the past several decades and how much our priorities have changed.

There used to be a 5 and 10 shop in town, there was a whole counter of things that were a nickel and a dime. They were worth something.

If it was a dollar would you have bent over to pick it up sooner? If the mail contained a rebate check would you be letting it lay there? These aren’t questions for you Bill, they are questions I ask myself. I have this penny that has been laying on my driveway for weeks, I picked it up the other day because the weedeater picked it up first and threw it at me.

I wasn’t worth much to me, but it should be. We collect rice bowls of change, not dollars. The change adds up. We might not be able to change the whole world with a penny, but we can change the lives of a few with some pennies, or dimes!

I’m thinking I take too much for granted.

Comment by cami — October 26, 2006 @ 9:00 am
I agree with Cami about taking things for granted and how priorities have changed. And I agree with the interviewee “That they shined the brightest when things were the darkest.” But the question remains - Why? What is the difference?

In part, I believe the answer lies in the challenge or the lack thereof. The “Greatest Generation” had to shine brightly or perish. They suffered through a very long period of darkness - The Great Depression and two World Wars. Now that is a challenge.

Subsequent generations have not faced a challenge anything comparable to this. Subsequent generations grew up without knowing real struggle and sacrifice. They grew up in homes with multiple TVs, cars, computers, and many times it was just given to them. They had no idea where these possessions came from. There was no challenge. Then the “Baby-boomers” compounded this by dumbing down the education system and removed that challenge in addition to removing the Bible.

We now have an unchallenged, self-absorbed, materialistic, you-owe-me generation. And this is manifested in lack of commitment. My mother in law use to say, “Bought experience is the best kind.”

Subsequent generations seem to rebel against the previous generation and their norms. Therefore, if the Lord doesn’t return soon, I would hope that the next generation will turn from past and change for the better - but I don’t think it will happen without a serious challenge to their basic survival instincts.

Comment by Dolan — October 26, 2006 @ 10:14 am
For the record, with my children I contributed heavily to the unchallenged generation - not just casting stones

Comment by Dolan — October 26, 2006 @ 10:25 am
OH MY GOSH
BILL?
IS THAT YOU?
we were beginning to think you’d “skipped town”!

gosh ya sure know how to provoke a discussion don’t ya???

So I’ll be back and offer my two cents…..after I pick up that spare change under the desk

Comment by Deanna — October 26, 2006 @ 12:43 pm
We can talk all day long about the ills of this generation or any other. But really, to make any difference or change anything or even to understand why they are so unmotivated and self absorbed you have to look at what made them that way.

Technically I’m a GenXer, born between 1963-1983. My generation was the first to experience widespread divorce, increase in mothers working outside the home, homosexuality coming “out of the closet”, and the legalization of abortion. in 1973 we legalized abortion and immediately began killing off more than 1/3 of the next generation. This is when the erosion of marriage and family really took root.

That next generation has been raised in the midst of widespread divorce, remarriage,divorce, remarriage etc etc. They’ve also been raised in a culture that places little or no value on life at its beginning OR its end. But this current generation also gets high marks in some other areas – the most over medicated generation, the generation with the highest numbers in underage drinking and drug use, and largest numbers of kids growing up with no father in the home and last, but not least, the most unchurched generation. All of that plays a huge part in why this generation is what it is.

That depression era generation passed on to their kids what was important and of value to them – concepts of faith and family, stability and purposefulness and hard work. This generation doesn’t have much of a grasp (if any at all) on those concepts. Your generation and mine have dropped the ball in some major ways.

This generation could be considered rebellious and without conscience but the truth of the matter is that this generation has been raised by their GenX and Baby Boomer parents who have pulled out all the stops – meaning this generation really hasn’t had all that much to rebel against. What is important to consider is that maybe this generation is just craving some boundaries and structure, some real relationships since their life has been so empty of all of those things. Every time a parent or teacher or some other adult in their life removes obstacles instead of letting them figure out a way through it we are just handicapping them even more.

We want to spare our kids the difficulties that we struggled through when we were growing up. But often we forget that the difficulties are what God used to shape and mold our own strengths and our own character.

That’s the difference, in MY opinion anyway, between a generation that will stoop over to pick up a penny and a generation that probably wouldn’t stoop over to pick up a dollar.

Comment by Deanna — October 26, 2006 @ 1:24 pm
Welcome, back.

Comment by Tim — October 27, 2006 @ 5:08 am
I have thought so often of telling you that it is no longer too hot to be on the porch but before you know it, it will be too cold. Don’t you just love the porch? I do.

Gone are the generations who took pride in saving up to pay for things before you got them. We have to have everything now……a microwave generation (who wants to cook popcorn in a pan that you shake over a red hot stove eye). I laugh when I think of one time when I was at work and Robin had gotten home from school and wanted a bowl of soup for a snack. The microwave was broken so she called me to see what you do with soup without a microwave. It was easier for her to call me rather than read the label.

We (me included) have made life too easy for our children. We want them to have everything we always wanted when we were growing up and we want them to have it NOW.

I applaud Joey and Laura who are taking the time to grow their own garden and can some of their own food. They are taking the time to teach their children about a slower, richer time……a time with limited television but lots of conversation sitting on the porch shelling peas. Their normal television time is a Friday night “carpet picnic” with the entire family watching Mayberry DVD movies. They realize that children need to learn responsibility, something so many parents don’t want to take the time to teach.

It is just easier for kids to go to their rooms (out of the parent’s way) and entertain themselves with their own computer, television, DVD, ipod, cell phone, etc. It’s no wonder that so many are bored in church….they are addicted to their cell phone or whatever. I’m not talking about our youth because they do take sermon notes and seem to listen to the sermon. I’m talking about the next generation in general.

Some of the kids of this generation are just lazy. Why study when you will be socially promoted until you get caught in the Exit Exam crunch. When I was in school (many moons ago), you studied so you would pass and in the same grade as your friends. I may be behind since I don’t have kids in school now but that was what was happening when Joey and Robin were in school.

Dolan is right…..we did dumb down our education system and look at where our future leaders will come from. There are a lot of advantages when you get your diploma from the School of Hard Knocks. I am not talking about those who have worked to earn their diploma but those who have a diploma without an education.

Comment by Becky — October 27, 2006 @ 1:56 pm
Well, who in that previous generation taught, or passed down the commitment, the giving, the morality or the generosity? These qualities are learned and developed. But when the young are left to their own devices, that’s when we see the problem develop.
There is enough blame to go around, but if the children of that generation are not taught, how can we put ALL the blame on them?

Comment by Tim — October 30, 2006 @ 7:12 am
OK, Evelyn just came into my office and picked up a penny and set it on my desk! Not sure what all this means, but I think I may have a fortune on my office floor!

Comment by Bill — October 30, 2006 @ 10:43 am
You ever gonna post again?

Comment by Tim — September 14, 2007 @ 2:20 pm
Guess not.

Comment by tim — October 12, 2007 @ 10:50 am

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What is the difference??

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