Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!

On weak men in bad times.

And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part.

As You Like It, William Shakespeare

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It’s been said that good times create weak men who go on to create bad times. Regarding our current situation in the United States I’ll simply point out the sins of the Boomers are well known and manifest. They cling to a rotting edifice, thinking they’ll be spared when the Man comes ‘round. Out of everyone alive on this planet today they are most responsible for our current malaise. As they embrace the second childhood, sans teeth, eyes, and everything else, I simply don’t feel the need to admonish them further. In time, there will be more than enough of that.

This Christmas Eve my pen forms a scimitar pointing at my own generation, the so-called Millennials. As the children of our time, our apple hasn’t fallen far. Know the scorn heaped upon us is deserved. On the whole we’re selfish, spoiled brats more interested in our own short term interests than anything approaching meaning. Something as basic as family, much less empire, is out of reach for far too many of us. Our ancestors, if we even know who they are, rightfully look down on us and weep before God over our unfaithfulness.

As any alcoholic will tell you the hardest task is recognizing we have a problem. That we are flawed. That we cannot do it on our own. Raised to believe we could accomplish anything and everything we wanted, then be shown time and again the game was rigged from the start, our failures both real and perceived chain themselves around our ankles and stay our feet. We remain broken, unable to step forward into life’s prime.

As an elder Millennial I’m here to tell you it need not be so. You need not remain in the slime, the filth, and the hopelessness. You can step forward into the Light and fix it. But how? Ultimately, I know not your journey. That’s not my business. You’ll have to figure it out on your own, but I can suggest a starting point. Before I do that you must know the stakes.

These past few years, teaching in a public school, I’ve learned quite a bit. The first and foremost lesson of this forest has been the breadth of opportunity presented to our generation. As the sons and daughters of weak men and women we find ourselves equally weak as the bad times unfold before us. Let’s not belabor that point any further by realizing the cycle continues on as it always must; the world spins on until it doesn’t. These bad times will forge great men. The good times will return. We can play our part in this. Not for us, perhaps not even our children’s children, but those that come later. Those that carry our memory in their blood and bones. With that we come to the crux of the matter:

By the light of our repentance we demonstrate the first lesson in strength.

If you are troubled with the path of your life thus far, consider that. You can always begin again. It worked for me because a few years ago I had a very important realization: I’m a prodigal son. Maybe you are too. Maybe our whole generation is, if we’re lucky. Even if it’s only one in a hundred, I’ll take it. So will heaven.

If you’re still unsure what I’m talking about, it’s fine. The enigmatic style is purposeful. I’m attempting a tap of your long dead sense of enchantment. Putting on a bit of a show, one could say. In the interest of clarity, I’ll finish up with Charles Shulz and his Peanuts gang. Since many of my generation will have seen this as children I felt the following scenes from A Charlie Brown Christmas Special the perfect capstone to this missive.

Pay close attention to Schroeder, Lucy, and the rest of the children’s bad attitudes. That’s us right now, my dear Millennials.

After Linus speaks his mind, pay close attention to what happens.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Play your part.

Merry Christmas.