We are also struggling to find work and loaded down with student loan debt which some of us are unlikely to ever pay back. Many of us were encouraged to pursue degrees of questionable value while the Universities we attend continually jack up their costs in response to the huge increase in demand for education created by the student loan bubble.
Only 21% of millennials are married and I'd venture a guess that those who are married are disproportionately devout Evangelical or Catholic Christians. It's a stereotype, but it's one that I've found to be 100% reliable in my everyday experiences.
Millennials are often the children of divorce and family brokenness. Our culture does an undeniably crap job of initiating and developing millennial men to provide moral leadership in society, and either choosing to build marriages or sacrifice themselves for their families.
It's hard for people to blame the institutions in which they've already invested hope, money, and time for their problems but it's very easy in today's culture to blame our parents and upbringing. Consequently, many young people are wallowing in the feel good teachings of universities and continuing on destructive paths rather than looking to turn things around.
Many jobless young men are living at home and wasting their lives online or with video games while unprotected young women feel totally let down by their situations and are blaming "the Patriarchy" for their lack of security and fulfillment in the modern world.
The "patriarchy" is not to be confused with the ancient men who were given the promises of God to bring redemption to the world, but to their descendants who are blamed for lording over women and denying them the equal privileges and access of men. Of course, what most of the women who use the term really want is not the responsibilities of men but the security and love that a protective father or jealous husband was supposed to offer. Instead, they've been hurt by people who failed them in these roles and are now in rebellion against the entire system.
Young men are too disheartened and coddled to do anything about it. They can get sexual access without offering any kind of protection, commitment, or real love to women and they can even get it without having to interact with a real woman. There are few forces at work in our culture that demand or expect our young men to rise up and take leadership roles or responsibility. Instead, we are taught to defer to women and allow them their chance.
There's a story that nails down this whole process and most of us millennials watched it growing up. It's called "the Lion King."
(Spoilers warning***)
The lion cub Simba begins the story as the heir to the Lion King, Mufasa, who provides him with both loving fatherly wisdom and rebuke to help eventually develop him into a worthy king and successor. Then of course, black sheep Uncle Scar ruins this plan by murdering Mufasa and scaring Simba off into the jungle. Scar then takes over leadership of the lion kingdom and the hyenas are promised their chance to live "as equals" amongst the lions whom had failed to adequately provide for their needs.
Uncle Scar might as well be the baby boomer generation, the hyenas the feminist movement, and of course the jungle is the University experience. At
He's essentially living entirely for his own pleasure with very little in the way of structure or accountability, much like many of us millennial young men did in college.
Until finally, he's confronted with what the consequences have been for his lioness friend Nala, and he sees how the lion's kingdom has come unglued without him stepping in to bring order, good stewardship, and protection. Of course he's afraid to step into that role, until his father Mufasa appears to him in a vision:
"Simba, you have forgotten me...you are more than what you have become..."
It's easier to blame our parents, blame traditional social structures, or blame anything else than to confront the choices we've made as a generation and assume responsibility as young men for the future and direction of our futures, our potential families, and our communities.
We need Mufasa in the cloud telling us that not only CAN young millennial men pay off their student loans, work to find traction in the career world, and overcome the selfish sexual sins that hold us back but that anything less is simply inexcusable.
Sometimes the prevailing theologies of today hold us back. We're often taught that "we're already spotless and pure in God's eyes" and that stepping into a place of holiness is simply a matter of realizing what we already are.
This is, of course, patronizing nonsense and entirely unBiblical. What we possess are the promises of God that through the Holy Spirit, we can become sanctified. In the meantime, Paul, Jesus, and every other New Testament author exhorts us to put sin to death, repent, and embrace discipline in life.
When that happens, and men act as men should, then all the griping about "patriarchy!" and the complaints about our situation in life will fall away. We'll become loving husbands, protective and providing fathers, and leaders in our community. The rest of society will follow that leadership.
Then, perhaps things won't be as difficult for the next generation.
Solid Article.
ReplyDeleteGreat article!!!
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