Definitiv by Lena Bluestein

A Generation Impacted Equals a Country Changed

My husband and I are Junior High Youth Pastors at a local church where we get the opportunity to be a part of some amazing young people’s lives. It’s a beautiful thing. We love the kids we get to hang out with and are praying that they would know their worth and not miss their potential. But so many things are facing them daily. Each week as we take time to prepare a message to share I realize, no one thing that I say is going to be a cure-all statement for the many challenges in their lives.

            We took our Junior High group to a youth event at the Ford Field Stadium in Detroit a couple weeks back. “Who is influencing this generation?” and “What is branding me?” Are just a few of the questions we took a look at as we gathered with 35,000 young people of Michigan. These youth all came because they were desiring something more than what has been portrayed as “normal life”. Why do you think that is? I mean what’s so bad about what they have going on right now? Well, let’s take a look at some of the aspects intertwined in these young people’s lives.

Television

This generation views 16 to 17 hours of television each week and sees, on average, 14,000 sexual scenes and references each year. That’s more than 38 references every day.

Internet

This generation spends three hours a day online and is the first to grow up with point-and click pornography. Almost 90 percent of teens have viewed pornography online at one of the 300,000 adult websites, most while doing homework.

Music

More than 25 percent of teen-targeted radio segments contain sexual content; 42 percent of top selling CDs contain sexual content.

Advertising

With more than $128 billion dollars in their pockets, this generation of teens has been targeted by corporate America, who does everything it can to grow brands and profits without any regard to the moral decay of a generation.

MTV, which owns Nickelodeon and other entities, made this statement, “We don’t advertise to this generation, we own this generation.”  A Soviet Communist Party Official made this declaration, “If you could effectively kill the national pride and patriotism of just one generation, we will have won that country. By making readily available drugs of various kinds, by giving the teenagers alcohol, by praising his wildness, by stimulating him with sex literature…we can create the necessary attitude of chaos, idleness and worthlessness.” There is a tragedy at hand in America.

Many of the youth in Mason County attended this event called the Battle Cry. What I heard from the youth in our group and the other thousands present at this event is that they don’t want to be owned and destroyed by these things which are hazardous to them. It became obvious to them that there are serious consequences to adopting the lifestyles that have been acted out before them, whether on the stage or in real life.

           It just takes some kids to get together a battle plan and to have the guts to stick to it, to change our nation. So don’t be surprised if you start to see them rising up to boldly reclaim their generation for good. If enough of them don’t buy the junk being sold, they’ll stop selling it.

Our junior-highers have enlisted to fight for their generation and I am committed to standing behind them every step of the way. To the adults of Mason County I say, “Get ready and stand by our young leaders, as they stand up for the sake of their generation and our nation.” So much is in their hands, if they continue in an apathetic fashion then we all lose. But if we stand with them they will have the potential of changing the destiny of our country.”

The American View

In late January four members of congress traveled to Afghanistan to survey the situation. They were welcomed warmly and spoke with many different officials in that country. The leader of religious affairs in Afghanistan asked for the United States’ continued support as he thanked us for all that has been done thus far. In his requests he quoted Mohammed as saying this, “You will never become a good Muslim until you first want for others what you want for yourself.” He was of course showing his gratitude to Americans for giving to the Middle Eastern Countries and helping to free them from their oppression, in the same manner that anyone would hope would be done unto them.

I’m not sure of his knowledge of American affairs, but my first thought was, that I hope he doesn’t know how many people don’t want to be helping in the Middle East. How embarrassing it is that these people who see the freedom granted them as an act of heroism may come to know how many people think that all that we’ve done over there was for nothing. I can just see the thirteen-year-old upon this realization, ‘My freedom and safety wasn’t worth it?’ I certainly am glad that we have been able to put our best foot forward with our noble troops doing all they can in the true spirit of American Pride.

So what is the problem? Are we so naïve that we actually think if we were under a tyrannical rule that we would not hope to be set free by our neighbors. The only problem I see with all that has happened in the Middle East over the last five years is that this didn’t happen sooner. Our government was only able to gain the support of Americans to help out in the Middle East after our own security was threatened.

Martin Luther King Jr. said he had a dream that all men would be free. We have just finished celebrating the life of his wife and honoring all the work they did to free minorities in America from oppression. Wouldn’t that be a shame to think that the American ideal has now become to think of our own people and our own rights alone. I believe another man’s bondage are fetters on my feet – only waiting to be thread with the chains from the next wave of oppression.

"First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."

-- Author unknown, generally attributed to Rev. Martin Niemoller

Abortion, A state choice.

South Dakota state legislature has just approved an abortion ban, which allows for exceptions only to save the life of the mother. This past Monday Governor Mike Rounds signed the bill, which means, as of July 1, 2006 it will be a felony for any doctor to perform an abortion in the state of South Dakota.

Not only did this governor sign this legislation, but he made plain that there are many other state governors that are saying they would do the same in their state. So it’s no surprise to see Mississippi and Missouri falling in line proposing similar abortion bans. What would it mean if each state was able to make its own abortion laws?

A Kansas Governor shared his views on the state’s ban. Senator Sam Brownback explained “I do not believe, and there are legal scholars left and right that do not believe, that the right to abortion is in the constitution. Therefore, it belongs, as it did prior to 1973, in the states.” Before that historic Supreme Court Decision, only fourteen states had legalized abortions. The other states were left with no say as the big daddy of government spoke on behalf of abortion advocates, despite the obvious will of the majority of States.

Recently chairman Chabot clarified, “The public thinks, for the most part, that if Roe versus Wade was struck down, abortion would be illegal. That’s not the case,” he said. “It would go back to the states and people would have more of a voice in it.” So South Dakota has just been the first state to take its voice back. They’ve in essence said, go ahead and try to sue us, we’re willing to take you back to the Supreme Court. Planned Parenthood, being the abortion provider in South Dakota, along with the providers in Mississippi and Missouri, have made it clear that they will immediately file lawsuits against such legislation banning abortions. This is what is necessary to give the states their say.

Many in the pro-life community are concerned, however, that the Supreme Court doesn’t have the necessary votes to uphold the abortion bans. As stated in an article on lifenews.com “Some pro-life groups say the time is now to pursue a ban and a court case, while others point out that the court is split 5-4 in favor of Roe (abortion) and that the potential fifth pro-life vote to overturn Roe may not be on the high court by the time the case gets there.”

We have petitions circulating in Ludington to propose an abortion ban in Michigan, and in the past couple years we have joined forces and the powers which be had to give us the floor on the partial birth abortion bans. If you are a pro-life Michigander, whatever your view is on the timing of these bans, I urge you to get your name on one of these petitions, and let’s be united again. If not for any other reason, then to let America and our lawmakers know, we are here and we are a determined voice for the lives of our unborn brothers.

The next step is to make abortion laws the state’s choice. And since so many are now working to represent your pro-life interests, don’t leave them hanging. I realize that in comparison to South Dakota, Mississippi and Missouri - Michigan is like the ‘King of the lefts’, but we can’t allow that to define our resolution. I believe that when the people’s voice is more precisely heeded the womb will become at least a safe-er place to grow.

Power and Perspective

There is a power that everyone is affected by. Some recognize its wrath and other’s have a way of exerting its power. There are two sides of every coin. And in this country it seems more like a rubrics cube of varying theories for every issue. The current events this past week in news were merely variations of people using the power of words and images to convey either their feelings or what they want the public to believe they feel. My purpose in writing today is to remind us all to take the time to consider what news is merely one’s perspective and what is the proper panorama of facts necessary to detail events.

President Bush has been giving speeches around the country to promote support for the war in Iraq. In West Virginia he spoke to many soldier’s families and their response was overwhelming. One after another many stood and thanked him for his integrity and expressed that they were very glad he has been our president through these times. But, for some reason, when President Bush spoke to American Journalists at a Press Conference their questions were exceedingly harsh. Bush even joked about what a tough crowd they were. The journalists said things such as, ‘what are your real reasons for going to war?’ and ‘since most Americans have lost trust in you and your administration...’  These comments hardly seem necessary or factual, and they certainly contrast what those most closely affected by the War in Iraq are expressing. Perhaps some have a perspective that we need to beware of.

On the Your World w/ Cavuto show, on Fox News Wednesday, a democratic strategist was on as a guest. He admitted that the economy was doing pretty well and that there was significant progress in Iraq. But he went on to stress the importance of the media keeping the angle that things were not that good so that - in my own words – people will think everything bad that happens is the fault of President George W. Bush and (most importantly) will vote democratic in the upcoming elections. Yikes! Whatever happened to our rubrics cube of views? It seems some people have the ability to get our minds off facts and onto perspectives.

Other groups in the news this past week tried to use perspectives to promote their cause as well. It didn’t fair so well though for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) when they tried to grab student’s attention on college campuses by comparing the treatment of animals with the treatment of African Americans in slavery. Heated debates broke out and African American leaders called for them to stop insulting all they’ve been through. Well PETA I guess you’d better get a louder microphone and keep yelling your agenda! It just takes time and persistence to get Americans to forget the facts and stamp your perspectives on our foreheads.

Many other instances are astonishing to me to see the power of words and media in action. But I’ll end with the maneuver Hillary Clinton pulled when she used Jesus as an example in her speech against the bill that just passed in the House about immigration. Now, where one stands on the immigration issue would not be the point. But the point is that we are seeing a political strategy to super-impose her perspective on immigration onto the average American who at least would say they think Jesus was a good ‘moral teacher.’ And what is worse in this case is that based on previous statements from Hillary one could conclude that she doesn’t necessarily feel that way about immigration, but needed to take that stand so more people would take to her perspective i.e. vote for her in 2008.

To bring it all together, there is a power in words and media, and it would be stupid for those campaigning or promoting certain positions not to use them to their fullest extent. I’m certainly not accusing those who use persuasive words of being evil, or anything. In fact, I hope I’ve used some convincing words just now, but I am simply blasting out these key principles to anyone looking to know the truth…don’t forget to take time to consider, what’s truth and what’s just perspective.