It is most tragic when it happens to our young people - when kids feel as though they have no alternative but to cut themselves or to get involved in drugs and alcohol or worse yet, to contemplate suicide. When this takes place, immediately we as adults begin to try to affix blame. The parents, the bullies, the environment, and even the devil himself is often blamed for a tragedy that probably could have been avoided with a few kind words and an open mind. You see, our young people want a voice, they want to be heard but they also need to know that there are boundaries - that with that free speech, with that voice there comes responsibility and consequence. For example, a sassy mouth should get a child into some amount of trouble with the custodial parent, but that trouble shouldn't include torture and abject demoralization.
We're in a really weird place culturally. The Christian community seems laser focused on church growth rather than discipleship and the birth of video churches on every corner has watered down the reality of the Christian faith and we suffer as a result. We lack connections, we lack the desire to truly connect with one another on a meaningful level and we end up eating our own wounded rather than nurturing and caring for the least among us. This impacts us so negatively that we find ourselves constantly facing the difficult decision to completely lose our minds and do something stupid, or lay down and take the lashes our humanity dishes out and we have no real recourse other than a bunch of feel-good dogma, wrapped in Amercan Idolesque video productions.
So, what are we left with? Each other. Because when the dust settles, we're all we have left.
