THE BLAME GAME

Two Texas high school football players are at the center of a major controversy.  By now, you have probably seen the video of the two players violently and intentionally knocking down a referee.  I have watched video numerous times and am still shocked.  What is even more shocking is their excuse.  The two players, cleaned up in suits and ties, appeared on Good Morning America.  They were penitent and express regret over their actions, but I really struggle with their comments.  They blamed their coach and stated that they were only following instructions.  Both players stated that they had heard the referee in question use racial slurs.  He told Hispanic players they, “needed to speak English.”  He also used the “N” Word in reference to one Black player.  Since their interview the coach has admitted to the action and has been fired by the school district.

I am still not buying into the boys' innocence.  My mother would never have bought it either.  Growing up I remember using the “he told me to do it” excuse.  Her response was usually something along the line of “If they told you to run across the freeway, would you do that too?”  The message is still clear: I need to be responsible for my behavior.  Blaming other people for my actions is a poor excuse.  If your boss or supervisor tells you to do something illegal, I doubt the authorities would buy your “He told me to” excuse.  No matter the circumstance, we have a moral, and God given, responsibility to the right thing. 

I do find some comfort in the player’s remorse, and even in their regret over what took place, but I think we are doing them and other teens a disservice when we allow them to use the “He told me to” excuse.  When mistakes are made, we need to take ownership.  Even as parents, we need to step back sometimes and swallow our pride; “I am sorry but I made a mistake.”  In doing some we are modeling good behavior and helping our teens and young adults to learn to take responsibility for their actions as well.

PLEASE DO NOT CALL ME A BABY BOOMER

I was born in 1946.  For decades my generation has been called the Baby Boomers.  Sociologists attached that label to those born after the end of World War II (roughly 1946) and 1964.  Like many others in my generation I was born right after my dad finished his tour of duty in the war effort.   In all my parents had four children, making us a pretty typical family for those days.  In the end there were a lot of us, so many that they needed to build more schools and develop a whole new support system to accommodate us. 

In reality, I have never felt comfortable being labeled as a Baby Boomer.  I was never a part of any protest movement, and certainly never got caught up in the “bigger is better” consumer mentality considered the norm for Baby Boomers.  As a professional church worker, I was always more concerned with serving others, than being served.  Now in retirement, I have no desire to sit around McDonalds in the morning drinking a “senior coffee” and talking about how the world has “gone to hell in a handbasket.”  Moving to a retirement community where I can hang out and play golf with other “old fogies” is not at all attractive to me.  And, when it comes to worship styles, I like the old hymns but really prefer contemporary praise songs on Sunday morning.  I also like to think of myself as being tolerant of those who choose alternative lifestyles or who share different belief systems.   Yes, I am a Lutheran, but I definitely am more weighted toward the Gospel than the Law side.  As a result: Please do not think of me as a Baby Boomer.  I do not think I fit, nor do I desire to fit, the label.

According to a recent report from Pew Research, I am not the only one who is resisting generational labels.  If Millennials are those ages 18-34, then only 40% of the members of that cohort consider themselves to fitting the mold.  In fact, one third (33%) of that generation consider themselves to be members of Generation X.  It is not difficult to understand why many of those born between 1980 and 2000 want to shun the “millennial” tag.  According to the same report, most of those surveyed felt that only 24% of millennials were responsible adults and only 36% thought the word “hardworking” described that generation.   It got worse: Just 12% of those polled saw millennials as being “religious” and 17% as them being “moral.”

The bottom line: If you are looking to market a particular product or service it would probably be helpful to look at a profile of what those adults under the age of 35 look like.  If you are looking to hire a new sales representative or engineer it might somewhat helpful to know the characteristics of that generation.  When it comes to sharing the Good News of salvation it is not going to be all that helpful.  In reality, we all carry the same label: Sinner.  Each of us in our own way is a broken child of God in need to the Good News of Jesus.  Are those born in the last two decades of the twentieth century self-absorbed, wasteful and greedy?  Maybe they are, but in the final analysis so are many in my generation and we still make up a majority of the membership in most churches. 

Get past the labels and think in terms of those who need Jesus.  And it starts by being Jesus to them.

An Early Lesson in Accepting Refugees

When I was in fifth grade three new students joined our class.  These were not your typical transfers from another school in Detroit or even kids moving from another city.  The three girls were refugees from Hungary.  I recall the preparation that went into welcoming them.  Our teachers tried to explain the political situation in their country that had forced families to flee their homeland.  While they also had gone through some orientation, I know it was difficult for them, I recall their English as being limited. They also dressed a little differently and ate some strange food at lunch.  Two of the three girls were still in my class by the time we reached seventh grade.  They had become acclimated and it would have been hard to distinguish them from any other student.

I thought of those students in recent days in light of way their home country of Hungary has treated the refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.  In case you missed the evening news, let me refresh you.  It is estimated that half the population of those countries have fled their homelands because of the political upheaval caused by ISIS.  Many of those refugees walked hundreds of miles on foot in search of freedom.  Some of them ended up in Hungary, where they were not welcomed warmly.  The image of thousands of them crowded into underground train stations was disturbing.  Even more troubling, many of them were herded unto trains with the promise that they were heading to Germany, only to be forced off the train and into refugee camps and hour into the trip. Today it was reported that 7,000 of the exiles had arrived in Germany and a similar number in Austria.  Other European countries have committed themselves to accepting more of the refugees.  Countries as far away as Australia, have announced that they too will open their borders to the emigrants.

I guess that is most troubling to me is the lack of compassion on the part of the Hungarian leaders.  It is especially disheartening in light of the political history of that country.  Sixty years ago our nation opened its doors to Hungarian refugees.   Even as grade school students we went out of our way to welcome those who had been misplaced because of political upheaval. 

I cannot help but think, “What would Jesus do?”  Jesus was all about compassion, “On seeing the crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34)  We are surrounded by immigrants.  They are part of almost every part of our culture.  Many of them have strange accents, or dress differently.  Some of them come from very different religious traditions.  I truly believe we are call to not only accept them but embrace them.  We are called to be Jesus in a very diverse and changing world.