In an October 4, 2011, article produced for CNN, William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education during the Reagan presidency, wrote this commentary: "Today, 18-to-34-year-old men spend more time playing video games a day than 12-to-17-year-old boys. While women are graduating college and finding good jobs, too many men are not going to work, not getting married and not raising families. Women are beginning to take the place of men in many ways. This has led some to ask... Do we even need men?”
"So what's wrong? Increasingly, the messages to boys about what it means to be a man are confusing. The machismo of the street gang calls out with a swagger. Video games, television and music offer dubious lessons to boys who have been abandoned by their fathers. Some coaches and drill sergeants bark, 'What kind of man are you?' but don't explain what it means to be a man.”
"Movies are filled with stories of men who refuse to grow up and refuse to take responsibility in relationships. Men, some obsessed with sex, treat women as toys to be discarded when things get complicated. Through all these different and conflicting signals, our boys must decipher what it means to be a man, and for many of them it is harder than ever before to figure out.”
"For boys to become men, they need to be guided through advice, habit, instruction, example and correction. This is true for all ages. Someone once characterized the two essential questions Plato posed... Who teaches the children, and what do we teach them? Each generation of men and women have an obligation to teach the younger males (and females, of course) coming behind them. William Wordsworth said, 'What we have loved, others will love, and we will teach them how.' When they fail in that obligation, trouble surely follows.”
"We need to respond to this culture that sends confusing signals to young men, a culture that is agnostic about what it wants men to be, with a clear and achievable notion of manhood.”
"The Founding Fathers believed, and the evidence still shows, that industriousness, marriage and religion are a very important basis for male empowerment and achievement. We may need to say to our 20-something men, 'Get off the video games five hours a day, get yourself together, get a challenging job and get married.' It's time for men to man-up." [End of Bennett’s Commentary]
If only God’s wisdom and counsel would prevail in today's society. Maybe our young men would be growing to manhood and taking their rightful places in God’s order of things. Unfortunately, in our era of seeking escape from reality through various pleasures – slothfulness – a disinclination to work or exert oneself, is on the rise. Who’s responsible for this growing epidemic affecting this generation of young men?
Proverbs 22:16 says... “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” Deuteronomy 4:9 reinforces with this wise counsel... “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Finally, in Deuteronomy 11:19 we are admonished of the urgency and seriousness of raising our children, our young men in Godly ways... “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
Parents are responsible for instilling these and many other Godly values and principles in their children. Without Godly wisdom and standards as the bulwark for life, what will be the fate of our young men in the twenty-first century? Will our young men increasingly be living perpetual childhoods, dominated by the mindless pursuit of electronic fantasies? Evidence suggests that the distinctions between childhood and adulthood are blurring. The inclination to “grow up” is no longer a passion for young people, especially young men.
Many parents provide childhood wants without requiring personal effort on the part of their child. Laziness is a result of slothfulness. In the child’s mind, he believes he can get what he wants without work. As this mentality escalates with age, when he cannot obtain the things he wants, there is a retreat into fantasies, exemplified by the powerful lures of video gaming. God’s reproofs of slothfulness are very painful. Proverbs 15:19 states: “The way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns...” A sluggard has trouble all through his life. For this reason, we must help our young men conquer slothfulness in themselves.
How? Instill Diligence. Diligence is the general rule for success in life, and it does not require any special ability or even an education. It is an intentional choice. Diligence is intense and persistent effort to accomplish something; its usually hard work and requires continuing effort. It’s the basics of life, done well every day. Be early to work. Never miss a day. Be first to volunteer for extra duties. Ask for more to do when things are slow. Skip the breaks. Apply focused and intense output for the whole day. Do not waste or steal time for personal matters. Stay until the job is done. Be more eager to punch in than punch out. Outwork anyone else around you. Enjoy self-imposed stress. Work extra hard on difficult jobs. Cheerfully agree to every assignment. Set records for quantity and quality. Avoid things that will waste time. Work as if the Lord were watching, because He is!
Diligence is key to a successful life - no matter what aspect of life you are considering. Parents... demonstrate this character attribute in your life endeavors, talk about the qualities of diligence around the dinner table, and your children, your young men, will hear you. From your marriage to your house, from your children to your soul, diligence is a main ingredient for successful Christian living. (Proverbs 4:23; 5:19; 14:1; 29:15-17).
The Word of God is our Spiritual guide for every phase of life... from our youth to old age.
