Not so long ago BBC Breakfast TV introduced its viewers
to a selection of the new ones. They took a camera out onto the streets,
stopped members of the public, quizzing them on the definitions of the new
words. The only entry that stuck in my mind was Generation Snowflake.
One of the first women they asked described Generation
Snowflake well. They are the generation of young people who are wrapped up in
cotton wool by their parents. They are
the “little treasures” that must be protected and defended at all times. They
are surrendered to at the first hint of a tantrum. If a teacher gives them a
row or complains about homework not done, the parents take up the fight on
their child’s behalf. What they don’t teach their children is about how to
fight their own battles and how to be resilient. Their sons and daughters don’t
know how to prevail, to stick at something and see it through to the very end. They
simply cave in.
One of today’s papers picked up on the idea of the
snowflake generation. The journalist wrote about being a Brownie and going away
to camp and sleeping away from home for the very first time. They were out there,
in the wild, with their tents and their Brown Owl learning how to cook sausages
over a camp fire. When it came for the time to go to bed, the girls had not
realised that the tents they had put up were for them to sleep in. They
expected a parent to show up and take them home. There was a lot of weeping and
wailing and sobbing and very little seeing the whole adventure thing. One
lassie wanted to be dropped off at the nearest police station where she could
call her parents to come and get her. This was in the days before mobile
phones.
The Brown Owl was a no-nonsense woman. She just told them
to deal with it. It was the tents or nothing and no one was going home. The
girls eventually climbed into the sleeping bags, fell asleep and woke the next
morning feeling they had done something very brave. They were not allowed to be
snowflakes – people that melted at the first sign of a scorching challenge.
Part of the resilience found in the brownies at camp was
in their shared experience. They discovered that other girls shared the same
fears and anxieties they had. They were
not alone. Part of the problem for the current generation of young people is
their isolation. They don’t always do things with others. Computers, I-phones and
game-boxes mean that they are often on their own. Meal times might often not be
a family affair, but a variety of meals taken upstairs or eaten in front of a
TV. There is too little interaction with others without that opportunity to
develop a “we-are-in-this-together” mentality.
Resilience is becoming my favourite word these days. I am
surprisingly resilient. I’m not sure that I can hark back to my Brownie days
and say it happened then. I came from a large family and lived in a street
where every house had its offspring and everyone playing together all the time.
There was no computer tech then. I am not sure that’s where my resilience has
its birth.
My early days in the teaching profession were not
successful ones – I am not that sure about my current day either. I had spent
four years getting my teaching qualifications and was determined to give
teaching four years before coming to the conclusion I wasn’t cut out for it.
That was some thirty six years ago.
My resilience comes from my relationship with God. He
doesn’t really allow me to back down from a challenge. When things get tough He
directs me to all the resources that I need to triumph. I have always believed
that an important part of those resources come from the church family that God
has built me into. Yes, we are in this together and we share life together, the
joys, the struggles, the defeats, the victories, the tears, the laughter, the battles
we fight side by side and the lessons we learn along the way. There is no room
for isolationists in God’s kingdom. No one gets to grab a meal and take it up
to the bedroom to eat whilst texting a mate.
I would like to think that to the new generation of
just-surrendered-to-Jesus Christians I can be a little Brown Owlish. I am
thinking not so much of telling the new generation to “deal with it” or
declaring “It’s the tents or nothing”. I
would like to live resilience in front of them in a way that they can learn and
live it for themselves.
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