B.J. FLETCHER: We must help younger generation lead

There is hope.

Millions of Americans tuned into the State of the Union address on Tuesday night, more than the Grammys audience on Sunday. So maybe many are getting tired of the idols they have been looking up to for years.

This new generation can influence the world. Not isolate it. The speeches made came from two well-known political figures in our life time: President Biden, who is 80, Sarah Sanders, who is 40. Generations apart in age, much further apart in messages.

Both messages had one thing in common: American is a great nation, and we can get even stronger when we become one. But we all know that’s never going to happen. What’s different now from the days when we all were trying to find our path to life is that we didn’t have all this division then. Well, we did. But we didn’t have social media that could spread like wildfire anything we wanted to spread.

It’s always gone on behind our backs. It’s called “executive sessions” when our leaders do it. A way really to make decisions for each community that’s really not for our good. Yet we are too caught up in life to get what’s happening around us. What we don’t need to miss is the fact that this young generation is our future. And we’d best be willing to work with them, not always saying that we are going to hell in a handbasket. I hear that weekly.

Well, if you do, it’s your own decisions that will put you there. Douglas MacArthur famously said, “There is no substitute for victory.”

At the end of a hard-fought ballgame or war, compare the enthusiasm of the winners compared to the hollow, shellshocked depression of the losing sides. Battles rage. One will win, one side will lose. Enemies attack.

If we choose to not work with this new generation, then we are choosing for a future that will lose. The biggest battles we face are within. Nasty attitudes, addictions, faults and failures. We face battles daily. Debt, disease and family turmoil. We’re at war based on people having different opinions.

Someone asked Corrie Ten Boom about the missionaries she met while on her long hard journey of helping others. She replied, “They have given all, but they have not taken all. They have given homeland, time, money, luxury and more, yet they have not stopped long enough to share their knowledge or boundless resources to help others, to help the next generation.”

In reality, we were put on earth for others, not just got our own selfish needs or desires. Sarah Sanders said that the Biden administration has failed America. I say, “We have failed America.” We are failing the one generation that can be our ray of hope.

Make no mistake, I wholeheartedly agree with Sanders when she said, “God bless America, God bless us.” Without God, all will fail.

Regardless of what you choose to for an idol — money, sex, social media or some other god — let’s all take victory over our weaknesses. The bigger our foes, the harder they fall. Don’t let this generation fail so you can feel better about yourself. Let’s all do our part. Stop complaining and start campaigning for the people who want to serve and not to be served.

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