The generation gap

I had an eye opening experience at chapel last night, when we were doing an MLK-themed service. We did several things, including compiling a "collective biography" and reading one of his sermons. And then, knowing that they had been to the King Center earlier in the day, I asked the kids about their reflections of the weekend and the trip. I wanted to know what their "A-ha's" were. And sadly, there were none. Not a single youth volunteered anything about their experience. And when I pressed them further, still nothing. Well, that's not true-- I got the impression that they thought the weekend and the trip to the MLK center were a waste of time. It seems they believed that none of this really affected their worlds at all. I was flaberghasted. I'm not that old, but I remember going to the King Center as a kid and marveling at this man's vision of peace. Somewhere--probably in sunday school or something-- I had recently heard the verse "The lion and the lamb shall lie down together, and they shall not war anymore." And to me, MLK was living into that vision in a way that it had never struck me as possible.

I think what I realized last night was the urgency of our (yes, those unfortunate ones they call adults) mission. It's our job to help bridge the disconnecting gap. It's our job to help them realize their place in moving the country forward, not only in matters of race, but in matters of the welfare of society in general. It's our job to remind them of the struggles fought and the battles won, for if they let it stop with them, all of MLK's work would be in vain. It's our job to bridge the gap between the generations who remember the events and the generations who read about them, at best.