Wayne Weekly “Twenty-Two…the New Twelve”

As of late we are hearing about some college campuses that have decided it is in the best interest of students to create “safe zones” that serve as a limited space to disseminate information, share ones faith, one’s political convictions, etc. At a quick glance, this sounds reasonable, but take another look.

“Safe Zones” limit free speech, and an opportunity for sharing Christ, or curtailing expression of a conservative world view. Do I think liberal ideas would be contained, perhaps to a nominal degree, but let’s face it, liberal colleges and universities don’t need zones to spew out liberal toxins… they already have plenty of space in many of their classrooms.

Perhaps you’ve heard the expression, “fifty, the new forty”, or “forty the new thirty”, referring to a new trend in a person’s age characterization. For sure todays fifty year old seem to be more like forty year olds. They dress younger, are more involved with activities once reserved for those ten years their junior, and feel younger due to the emphasis on exercise and proper nutrition.

Today it seems many who attend colleges and universities, mostly made up of 18-24 years olds (resources report 79%) have adopted this new trend in age grouping.

While student protests have been around to some degree for years, the expression of protesting seems to be changing. Sit-ins, “cause signage”, chanting in unison is morphing into crass yelling, obscene signage, battering rams, and even ballistics.

Free speech seems to have become one-sided…to the left. Public college campuses, once regarded a place of free and peaceful expression, is in many cases now a place of violent rabblerousing.

In following the new trend in age grouping, could it be that “twenty-two…is the new twelve”?

To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:  ‘- We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge and you did not mourn.’                                   Matthew 11:16-17