A couple weeks ago I was grappling with Jerry Falwell's legacy (see the May 25th post: Falwell: Friend or Foe?) and someone left a comment that he attributed Falwell's oft-inflammatory (and in my opinion, most annoying) comments to just "being old." I disagreed with that "excuse," Billy Graham is older and is less annoying, but the comment stuck with me.
In a culture that overly-celebrates youth, it's pretty par for the course to dismiss old people as, well, just being old.
But I'm reading Proverbs these days over my bowl of cereal while trying to keep my two kids from killing one another, and the basic biblical assumption as we follow the Lord into old age is NOT that we become more cranky and less relevant. Indeed, it is quite the opposite. Proverbs assumes that as we follow the Lord into old age we become the type of people we were designed to be. That is, we become wise.
This wisdom, then, is to be a fountain of blessing to be shared in community. Both the depth of character and the experiences of age are to be shared by all as a vast resource of guidance and wise decision-making.
Our culture not only idolizes youth, but has been built around the abilities of youth. Using technology that demands a high degree of multi-tasking, for example. And so we have created a culture that builds in obsolescence not only into our technology but also into our people. Old people are increasingly marginalized in the technological society.
I can't help but wonder what kind of prices we pay (and will continue to pay for many years to come) for this way of life.
1 comment:
I think the commenter is right, or at least is probably right.
The only way I can excuse Jerry Falwell is the idea that he was old and delusional. Unfortunately for him, he was surrounded by yes-men who lacked the cohonas to shut him up.
On the other hand, if he had his mental capacity and meant those horribly demonic, hateful, and un-Christian things he said, then shame on him and shame on everyone who held him up as a leader.
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