Sitting in the corner of the empty pre-K Sunday school room in the only adult chair available, I probably looked like I was in time-out, but I wasn’t. I was working on a task I had readily accepted: to untangle and separate a jumbled pile of multicolored pipe cleaners so they could be used again.
The pipe cleaners were in a pile at my feet, representing creations made by the four- and five-year-olds the week before. I couldn’t tell what they were, but there might have been chains, necklaces, crowns, ladders, animals, rockets. Some came apart easily, but some were twisted and knotted so tightly that the only way to find a point of separation was to search for the sharp ends with my fingertips.
As I worked through the pile, a thought came to mind: It’s amazing how little hands can twist pipe cleaners into shapes and knots that big hands have trouble undoing. On the other hand (pun intended), big hands too easily create problems that the little hands of children with still-developing minds have trouble understanding now. What’s more, those children will grow up to face the tangled messes those of us with bigger hands have left to them.
It’s nothing new; it’s true for every generation. Asking Google’s AI tool for a list of these not-so-nice “gifts,” I learned:
- The Greatest Generation that sacrificed so much and persevered through World War II left my parents’ Silent Generation the nuclear arms race, questionable foreign conflicts and suppressed progress on societal issues such as civil rights, gender equality and mental health.
- The Silent Generation left the Baby Boomers with increased nuclear threats, suburban sprawl, top-heavy corporate ladder systems, mass consumerism and environmental disasters.
- Likewise, the Baby Boomers – and I’m at the end of that generation – is leaving the generations that follow with expensive higher education, a shortage of affordable housing, increasing national debt and infrastructure decay.
The list goes on and on with subsequent generations, and there’s a lot of overlap.
Each generation also leaves some noteworthy gifts, but often there are pros and cons. For example, the Baby Boom tech wizards built the foundation for the digital world we live in today with all its amazing tools such as AI, but also the addictive pull and isolation of social media.
And now, we’re in the midst of one of the ugliest political environments in our history, or at least in our lifetime. You’d think this year of our nation’s 250th anniversary would have brought some unity and mutual appreciation for who and where we are. There were some brief moments of celebration this summer, but the acrimony of the fall midterm elections has swept that away.
Likewise, the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks – which sadly caught me by surprise – will probably bring just fleeting moments of unity if at all. But shame on us anyway for needing disasters to stir up a sense of national unity. COVID certainly didn’t unite us, and it’s a sick wish if that’s what some were wishing.
And, as it turns out, nothing is sacred. My generation – or was it yours? – has turned the church and religion into a battleground over beliefs and worship styles and churned up secular cultural war as well. After thousands of years on the planet, we’re still fighting over whose god is the true God.
There’s no telling what those children who left me with the jumble of pipe cleaners will do with the societal messes we leave to them. There are some signs of hope in that jumble, however. I wasn’t separating the pipe cleaners because we have a shortage of materials on the preschool hall at Wilshire. LeAnn and the other teachers and their director Kelly like to use things as long as possible. And the children aren’t begging for brand new pipe cleaners each week. They’ve got a spirit for turning something used and imperfect into something new. I have faith they can do the same with this worn-out world we’re leaving them.