My friend Lucas, a teacher, recently wrote of what he was seeing in his teen students. An angst. A generalized disappointment. Hurt. It’s summed up in “rotten world.” Lucas is thoughtful. He’s the kind of guide I would like if I had some teenagers in school.
Lucas, however isn’t just talking about the rotten. He is also talking about the exquisite beauty that exists in the world. In the big things. But even moreso, in the small things. The way the wind is now gently blowing the trees out my window. The way the water ripples. The way that my friends laughed together yesterday.
Herein lies a hunch of the big work, right — it is accepting, not denying, that it all exists together. And further, since the loud, “rotten” voices seem so compelling and dominant, to commit enough courage to acknowledge the rotten, but then also, acknowledge the beautiful.
There is an honesty that is needed in the day. It isn’t more marketing material that either doomsdays the moment, or bypasses the suffering (and the emotional depth we are required to practice).
They all exist at the same time. I think young people in general, want those of us that have been living a while, to tell the truth, which includes restoring some of their power to see and create was is good. To witness what is available within them in any moment.
The fact that people might be willing to engage in such full notions — this too is worth celebrating.
Read the full article by Lucas. He and Marshall Opel (they led the bike trip / men’s retreat I did in the summer), they are doing some of the exquisitely beautiful work in the world.
