Raising Children and a Battle Flag 2/18/2024

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

I know that often the things I write here are lighthearted. Last week was about the sibling rivalry between my dog and cat.  Clearly, that was not the most in-depth content.  I was not aiming for life changing material or significant thought provocation.  But today, I hope you’ll humor me as I try to dig a bit deeper.  I’ve been privy to many comments lately that all seem to all be circling around a similar thought process.  While it’s an easy frame of mind to comfortably ease into, I have become adamant that I will not fall into line and allow myself to embrace this ideology.  As you read this maybe you will decide all these people that I have been hearing are correct or maybe you will decide you prefer my thoughts. I guess we shall see. 

Let me give a bit of backstory on these overhead discussions. For any of my readers that are parents, you know that the world of today is vastly different than the one in which you grew up.  Those differences come on all sorts of levels. Obviously, technology has exploded in recent years. I know my not quite 8-year-old is completely capable of handling a smartphone, tablet or laptop and all other sorts of technological advancements that I wouldn’t have known where to find much less how to navigate when using. (Before I finished typing this, she helped me find a setting on my laptop I couldn’t manage to locate on my own.)  This isn’t new of course. We will continue to advance, and the youngest generations will have knowledge of things that the older will not. And while advancement is mostly good, the changes in other realms are more what I have heard people have qualms with.  It is a much deeper change. These are the turnings of people. The things that are valued, important and even held sacred have changed lately too. These turnings have prompted the grave commentary I have been hearing lately. Ideas like these have always come around on occasion but lately the numbers have grown exponentially. 

Today’s society, or at least a seemingly large portion of it, does not look at the world the way it did when even I was young, and really, that wasn’t all that long ago. It seems to me that in an effort to become a more inclusive population and avoid any prejudices many have somehow felt the best course of action is to remove any definites. Truth has become subjective so as not to offend anyone. I certainly do not encourage anyone to go out and become grossly offensive but Truth, by its very nature, doesn’t change from person to person or situation to situation. That is the entire point of it. Truth is what it is. It doesn’t waiver or flex. That is why it is reliable and stable. That is why the Truth is a great foundation to build upon.  It is sometimes difficult but, when it’s presented in love it doesn’t have to be cruel. Yet today the idea seems to prevail that in order to avoid being a horrible hateful person you should allow everyone to define truth in whatever manner makes them happy.  Yes, I am sure this seems all lovely and cuddly of a concept except for it holds water about as well as a fishing net.   

Even if you don’t want to get as deeply into things such as the Truth and values, you can say that these days everyone puts far, far too much emphasis on feelings. Emotions serve a wonderful purpose in showing us what in our environment needs to change.  The thing that some people don’t seem to understand is that they are constantly changing. Do not base any decisions of any significance upon your emotions. If you have a family or a spouse, you know that your feelings about those loved ones are not filled with sparkles and sunshine every day. They are constantly evolving.  If you base your life on feelings, you will be committed to nothing and everything will disappoint and hurt you even if a thing or person has the best of intentions. Happiness is fleeting. The honeymoon phase of twitterpation (if you’ve seen Bambi, you get the reference) is just that, a phase. It doesn’t last. Our lives need to be based on solid things. And I didn’t mean to, but it seems I have come back to the importance of absolute Truth again. 

Anyway, I have stood on my proverbial soapbox saying all these things because the young people, and even some of the older people, seem to be embracing all these ideas that seem very lovely on the outside but overall, they are hollow at best or outright wrong at worst. The commentary I have heard so much as of late is how terrible the world is now. I get that. There are a great deal of disheartening and even downright terrifying things we’re faced with every day. There is the standard war and violence and disease that have always been a scourge on mankind, but we now have these new ideas that are not building people of character.  Here is where I finally arrive at the things that I have heard many people saying with which I cannot agree. They say that they fear for the children of today and what they may have to face, and some say that nowadays, it might be better to not bring children into this world at all. 

I will not let this mentality grip me. While I may understand it, I will not condone it as the correct mindset to take. I know that there are so many questions and concerns that swirl about our world today. There are even times that it can be frightening, and nobody wants to send their children off to grow up in a fearful place. However, what if our children are the ones that were made for such a time as this? What if the children growing up today are going to be the ones that take back our society from the grip of shallow concepts such as the toxic idea that love means accepting everything when in actuality it means exactly the opposite. What if this up-and-coming generation are going to be the ones that start a revolution to swing the pendulum back to Truth and Hope and real Love? Yes, knowing they will go into a battlefield that will try to fill them with beautifully decorated lies is a daunting concept. But we must arm them appropriately so they know what is right and wrong and that they can recognize real and counterfeit. These children may just be the ones that turn the tide and win the war.