Old lives matter

          Of course I will defend the old because I’m closer to them. Them? Your 50 pat, your one of them. My view on young and old takes the long view. Why? Because I’m and old bugger now I guess. I am in great shape and love my life, yet I appear to have less time left than the young. What I do have more of though is experience. The long view gave me a great collection of pain, torture, heartbreak, and dumb ass maneuvers. All those things have made me wise and less stupid than I was when I was young.

            Sure I wish I was young again, don’t we all. My young son wishes he was older, go figure. I think that the President of the United States has to be over 45 to be elected. It’s weird that we want a young fresh mind in office. That would be under 45 right. I hear people say they want younger all the time. Why do we want a person younger leading our country? For the young it’s about trust. For the old it’s about same old same old. At least the young fresh minds are open. Is that why we want a young leader?

            Enough of that malarkey, a young leader has its downfalls. You see, experience and the same old is safe. Do we need a young reckless leader that takes chances or one that is steady and stays the course? We could sit here all day and night and debate the merits of that. Take for example: should we try driving without airbags and seat belts? Isn’t freedom and recklessness worth your life? How about being paid for work done over salary? Do you want security or random chance?

            A country means something. We have freedom for the most part because we live inside a country. Ask a terrorist hostage about home soil when they are rescued. They kiss the dirt of their yard, why? Home is safe, familiar, and secure. Walk outside your country and things change. Our past generations elected older people because they were safe. They were wise. Yes, old and corrupt are partners at times, but the young are not influenced ever right? The best part of being old is the willingness to reject crap. Young people just don’t reject much and that is troubling if they are in control.

            What does God have to say about youth? 1 timothy 4:12 says “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” Also let’s read 2 Timothy 2:22 “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” In looking at these two I see a theme. One is youthful passions. We need them to feel vibrant but they could be our downfall. The second is character. I think passing youth to maturity is a process but it must happen.

            I really hate the depictions of maturity. What does that mean? To God maturity comes in patience, thoughtfulness, and conduct. For the most part you never know what you’ll get with the youth. It all over the map. The older and so called mature seem to be steady, silent, and reflective. I guess you could say that the old have more time to reflect than the young. I had to write a paper once on my spiritual journey. It was 28 pages. The young in my class panicked because they could not think of anything.

            We want a responsible banker. We want responsible police. We want responsible parents. Why on earth then do we desire young politicians? At the best of times politicians are corrupt. A youthful leader might bring fresh ideas but they also bring fresh youthfulness (see verses above). I guess one youth could lead better than an old fart. Yet, wise and youth don’t mix. We desire same old in banking and police, but not in running a country. Maybe we don’t think running a country is more important than a bank or street safety.  

            I think we need to rethink our desires. A youthful leader will want to impress. Us old people don’t care what you think. These days the Canadian Fake Prime Minister is running around taking selfies and visiting every single leader in the world for photo opp’s. He is considered revolutionary and dynamic. Yes, I get it he takes a great selfie. Yet, does he run a good country? Do we care? Is it important? The debt is rising and people complain about government spending, yet being popular in social media is king.

            I get it that in America the two candidates might take poor selfies. They are both very old. Hillary is so old that she is not that healthy. Trump seems to have old ideas. The new way is to invite everyone in regardless if their good and bad. Compassion over security is the new morality. We don’t need military because there is no war. I suspect the vision and priorities of the youth are far different than the old. So what are we to do? I know the young want security. I know that want safe places. I just wonder if they have ever thought about how you maintain that. It just does not come in a leader that prefers selfies over policies. Maybe in the future history we will discover that old lives did matter and selfies are really just pictures. 

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