Family Faith:

What is happening with our teens in this generation? I have worked with adolescents for years as a youth pastor and therapist. My personal and professional experience with teens has been thoroughly enjoyable.

I appreciate each of these unique individuals. But this past week I witnessed three encounters in public settings that left me saddened. Before I write this I want to state that these incidents did not happen in our community. I also want to write that I understand that mental illness can cause individuals to behave in a way that may not fit societal norms. I do not know if these individuals fall into that category, nor would I choose to write about them if they happened in our area.

One circumstance was an adolescent girl who was talking with her mother on a cell phone at a department store. She was loud, degrading and disrespectful to her mother; so much so that I literally had to bite my tongue so that I did not reprimand her myself. Being a mom, I was grieved by the way she spoke to her parent. Having been a teen, I understood the tirade of emotions that probably inhabited this young lady. She had either not had respect modeled for her or had experienced something in life that caused her to harden. Either way, I was sad for both mom and teen as sarcasm was loudly spoken to mom on the phone.

Another teen I witnessed had a sense of entitlement. She had been given everything money could buy and just did not know how lucky she was. I will not write “blessed” because I do not know if that accurately describes her. But as I overheard her discuss all the things that her parents had given her. I at first felt a sense of regret that I could not give all those monetary things to my own children, then I felt I had missed out myself somehow as a teen.

I analyzed this further, then I realized how entitled this young lady sounded. Had she lived a privileged life? Or had money and advantage tainted her in some way and caused her not to see other people’s needs, perspectives? I can’t be sure. But it caused me to contemplate.

I know that I have lived a difficult life. There was not privilege or surplus of money when I grew up. I worked hard for everything I attained and received, and probably longer than many. This caused me to be a person with compassion and empathy for others. It is probably how I was led into the helping professions of pastor and psychotherapist.