The youth are the road to our future, we are the key to their past. Who is responsible to ensure that this group of citizens are ready to assume the mantle of leadership and authority?
We are.
Who is 'we'? You and I. And it doesn't fall to a certain corner of Twitter, any particular religion, any social group but a combined effort and campaign of ALL the people that have reach and access to today's youth. Making men masculine isn't the total answer. Making women feminine, equal or reverting them to 'trad' is not the answer, either. It is a combined effort of leadership, setting an example, setting boundaries, setting expectations and demanding accountability. Let's take a look a just a few of the fine points of what I'm discussing.
Boys without fathers. This is an issue that my generation is now facing with trying to relate to the young males we encounter today. Boys are largely being raised by single mothers, because of how the court systems are skewed to old fashioned mores as to females being the traditional 'best' parent to parent. But boys need a male figure in their lives to provide those examples that honestly, only a man can provide. I saw this in Scouting. The women leaders could try to get the boys attention and try to get them to settle down and it was usually a free for all. I could walk in and simply say in an increased volume "Gentlemen!" and they would immediately stop, look and settle. You can see this in the school systems, especially the elementary schools where women are the educators, administrators and counselors. Males have been driven out due to fears of sexual allegations and accusations.
The feminine agenda. I can't speak to this as well as others, but from my viewpoint, the feminine agenda has convinced women that a household career of raising children and managing a house isn't enough to validate them. I call bullshit on that one! As I've tweeted, my wife stayed at home, raised our son and managed a household while I was deploying with the Navy. (Note: Lots of good stories to come from the Navy days!!) It was the hardest job she ever had, and the payoff was putting a solid citizen into the world. What could be better than that?
So, to conclude, how do we prepare our youth? We need to return to the days of relying on the elders to pass along traditions, lessons, stories, and expectations of how we expect our future leaders to act. We all need to be conscious of the fact that we are always being watched. We simply need to be the exemplars and set the course via our actions, not just our words.
In the coming months, I'll be discussing youth mentoring, how to restore the values that the great youth organizations like the Boy Scouts once provided to our young men. How we need to mentor to the youth as both men and women, that we all play vital roles unique to our genders and experiences. That young men need hard conversations from other men and young women need the conversations from women. Things that simply resonate more effectively in segregated conversations.
All these things and more take work and dedication on our part as the adults and leaders. It is not easy but is certainly fulfilling. We owe it our youth and we owe it to ourselves. We have a debt to repay from our elders and we have a debt to society as a whole.
Join me, won't you?
Semper Fortis.
Chief Chuck