Whatever Happened to the Young Man's Heart?

What ever happened,
to the young man's heart?
Swallowed by pain,
as he slowly fell apart.
And I'm staring down the barrel of a 45...




I heard those words in a song a few years ago while driving to work one day, and it really hit me; it lead me down a road of thought that has shown me so many sad truths...

It's a sad thing these days, the state of men. It's so odd to see a man actually act like a man. You know the kind of guy I'm talking about, the guy who keeps his word until death, fulfills his commitments, and does the things God intended a man to do. Whatever happened to the young man's heart? Where did we go wrong, that men - young men especially - have no heart or care for anything? It's such a sad, sad thing. To see a young man- a teenager maybe - who's dedicated to school, extra-curricular activities, his family, responsibilities, and others, is such an odd and out of the ordinary thing. Who do we have to blame?

It would be such an easy thing to blame the young men themselves: "He's selfish, lazy, self-centered, arrogant, and unreliable!" How often do we hear women saying that about men? Quite often in my world, really. The sad thing is, the men are to blame for not taking responsibility, but more than that, the parents (or lack there of) are more to blame. I think on a line from a movie I once heard: "I'm a 30 year old boy, I can't get married. We're a generation of men raised by women, is another woman in our life really what we need?" Such a profound statement; men are raised by women because their father's aren't, or weren't, around to show them the right way to live. They weren't ever told that just because you want something doesn't mean you get it. They were never taught that their word means something, and right is right regardless of how you feel about it. They were never shown that going to work is a part of life, not a choice in life, and children are supposed to be a blessing, not a consequence.

When did the family start to take a back seat to selfishness and passion? When did feelings start to rule actions? When did we, as a society and people, change into people who only live for the moment and lose heart? It's a scary thought that the world in which we live is ruled by feelings and emotional whims. We've lost heart, we have no direction, and our solution is apathy. As the song states, once pain comes for the young man, he stares into the barrel of a 45. He gives up; he sees no real value in struggle, hard work, or responsibility. It's time men start to stand up and be the men God created us to be.

Oh, what a different world it would be if the young man took his focus off of himself, and looked toward God and others...