Are They Really Afraid of Chalk?

I wonder how many people were as stunned as I was this week at the situation at Emory University, as a chalk wielding maniac ravaged the campus, striking fear into the hearts of students. Let’s see, we have multiple terrorists attacking people in Brussels, a mosquito born virus that can cause serious birth defects here in the United States and an estimated 67 to 1800 people dying at the hand of a serial killer every year. Call me crazy but chalk displays of support for Trump just aren’t in the same category. If we are going to be afraid, let’s be afraid of something that has merit. Terrorists, virus laden mosquitoes and serial killers are reasonable fears-chalk is not.

But, perhaps the most frightening thing about the Emory situation is that the university administration is actually buying into the drama and is willing to legitimize the silliness by appeasing their student body, at least with lip service. In the world of academia, there are some lessons that are more important than what will be found in the pages of a book-Life lessons, would be what my mother would call them and they are many times more important than what can be taught in a classroom. What happened to the good old days when grown ups would tell petulant children to get over themselves? I have struggled to understand the millennial generation. What makes them tick? Where are they coming from? Because, in many ways they seem to have been dropped here from another planet. I don’t care who you support for President, as long as you have a reason for your allegiance. But to blindly follow, with no thought makes no sense and, I suspect is the very reason we are saddled with an electoral college today. Perhaps our forefathers predicted that one day silliness and drama would replace tenacity, work ethic and common sense in our young people. What is even more perplexing is that those same young adults, millennials, cannot bear those that do not feel the same. Apparently, it scares them.

I spent much of this week wondering where we have gone wrong in raising the millennial generation. How did we get to the place where college students need a “safe space” and are afraid of anyone who does not think like them? Society has created a nation of “safe space” for our children-a place where there is no loss because there is no competition. We created a place where there is no need to conform to societal norms because we are so mired in political correctness that nothing, nothing is wrong. While it is certainly fine to be who you want to be, the real truth is that social norms exist to keep people playing between the navigational poles. When everything is right, nothing is right. And, when no one wins, everyone loses.

When did we, who grew up in the day and age when there were winners and losers and political correctness did not over take reason, decide to do things differently than the generations before us and raise our children in a way so far removed from the way we were raised? I think it happened around the time that a plane flew into the World Trade Center. As parents, we were horrified at the loss of security for our children. We began to try and coddle our children from anything and everything that could be painful. We let them grow up in an unrealistic world that we created in our quest to return to a time where there was security and comfort. Everyone wins. There are no consequences for your actions. You are owed a voice, no matter how silly the words coming from your mouth. Just because we have the right to speak does not mean that everyone should. I read a study a few months ago that made the case that millennials are a full decade behind in maturity from the generations that came before them. I would say that is a safe bet. But, the truth is, we, the generation before them, created the world that they are drowning in and it is up to us to fix it. I don’t know how. I suspect that it will take some tough love and a good dose of reality. We must let them win and we must let them fail. We have to put political correctness to the side and, instead, try a good dose of common sense. If you want to look and act different then other people then you will be treated different than other people. That is how things work in the real world, beyond the ivy halls. If you can handle it then fine. If you can’t then you need to look at yourself before you lay your eccentricities at the feet of others. It is not necessary to be politically correct. It is necessary to be sensitive to your fellow human beings and God’s creatures.

We, the grown ups, have gone off the track and it is time that we hop back on the reality wagon. Life changed and there is nothing that we can do to alter history. Now we must teach the next generation how to navigate a world that is not always fair and perfect. It won’t be easy. But, we have to try. It is obvious that they need help and they aren’t going to move back to center, a place of stability, on their own, that much is evident. Get up, get on with and get over it. After all that we have dealt with in this nation, we simply can not, should not, will not produce a generation that is afraid of chalk.