A Young Lady with a Very Timely and Thought-Provoking Message
Every once-in-awhile I receive an article that just speaks so strongly to truth and the reality of our times that appears so obvious yet it is stumbled over. Yesterday I received such an article from a dear friend of mine. The article was written by a college student who is in graduate school working on her MBA. Her name is Alyssa Ahlgren. This is an article worthy of posting on a refrigerator door just to remind us, when we are prone to complain, of how we are so blessed. She titled her article, "My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!"
"I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of Democratic candidates calling for policies to 'fix' the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around. I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it. Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought. We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times. Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.
"Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, 'An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity.'
"Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in. When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided. My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.
"Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country. People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, elect politicians dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.
"Why? The answer is this, my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or see the rise and fall of socialism and communism. We don't know what it's like to live without the Internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."
Alyssa Ahlgren, you have spoken truth. You have correctly identified one of the great and tragic problems of our age. It makes me want to ask this question: What if everything was taken away from us...the smartphones, the Internet, computers of every kind, jet planes with high-speed travel, Amazon, and the list goes on and on. What would we do? How would we survive? Would we do as our grandparents and great-grandparents did and band together as communities to support each other because we were all fighting to survive? What would be the role the Church would play...your church, my church...or would the Church play any role at all? Yes, Alyssa, you are correct. Our entitlements have produced a growing spirit of ungratefulness. It is time for us to rise up with thanksgiving in our hearts to God for His bountiful gifts to us and then to use those gifts in service to others.
"I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of Democratic candidates calling for policies to 'fix' the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around. I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it. Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose. These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought. We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty. One. Times. Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.
"Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, 'An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity.'
"Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in. When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided. My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.
"Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country. People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, elect politicians dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.
"Why? The answer is this, my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or see the rise and fall of socialism and communism. We don't know what it's like to live without the Internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."
Alyssa Ahlgren, you have spoken truth. You have correctly identified one of the great and tragic problems of our age. It makes me want to ask this question: What if everything was taken away from us...the smartphones, the Internet, computers of every kind, jet planes with high-speed travel, Amazon, and the list goes on and on. What would we do? How would we survive? Would we do as our grandparents and great-grandparents did and band together as communities to support each other because we were all fighting to survive? What would be the role the Church would play...your church, my church...or would the Church play any role at all? Yes, Alyssa, you are correct. Our entitlements have produced a growing spirit of ungratefulness. It is time for us to rise up with thanksgiving in our hearts to God for His bountiful gifts to us and then to use those gifts in service to others.
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