“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”
–Former football coach Lou Holtz

Last week I was privileged to sit in on one of my spiritual mentor’s Sunday School lessons—her final one after fifty years of teaching. The lesson was from 2 Timothy. Listen to these words, spoken by the Apostle Paul almost two thousand years age.

“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-4 NIV).”

Paul thought the end times were on the horizon, and surely he had no idea how prescient his warning would be centuries later. But here we are, and those words certainly ring true for us today. We live in a world seemingly on fire, with no one capable of quenching the flames. Vitriol has gone viral, ridicule runs rampant, and unctuousness is ubiquitous.

Sadly, we see this at the highest levels of our federal government. Witness the Senate, historically known as “the greatest deliberative body in the world,” seemingly consumed with small things and petty fights, not big ideas and collaborative efforts—junior high behavior, with all due respect to our middle schoolers!

Hateful rhetoric, inflamed by group think just as fire tempers steel, sets in motion regrettable events: Consider the violence at the Capitol on January 6 or the riots in cities like Minneapolis and Portland. What kind of example are we setting for our young, impressionable, but rationally-immature children?

Look at what kids witness in real time at these seminal events, and couple that with what they’re exposed to on social media. Is it any wonder we’re seeing an uptick in bullying, kids with guns, suicide, and violence in schools and on the streets? Aren’t they just mirroring what they believe to be the norm in our society?

Today, some teens and college-age youth retreat into “safe spaces.” They choose to isolate themselves and inevitably become self-absorbed, the opposite of the social interaction they so desperately need.

Sadly, within this environment, vulnerable children are made to think our world is on a self-destructive path with no chance of a course correction. They view themselves as victims of their circumstances. Nothing will change, so why not either wall themselves off or capitulate to what’s going on around them and join the fray? That makes for a dark present and an even bleaker future. There’s no hope . . . or is there? I believe there is.

We need to “right this ship,” and that opportunity is readily available. It starts at home, where parents teach their children wrongful behavior is unacceptable, words matter, and they should treat others the way they’d like to be treated. Those ideas are then reinforced by teachers, coaches, faith leaders in houses of worship, and civic organizations like Scouts and Boys and Girls Clubs. If we expose children to that mindset, they will become better versions of themselves than they would have otherwise believed possible.

Our younger generation needs a new vision for their future—a sense of hope, not despair; of promise, not pessimism. For that to happen, it starts with us adults. More importantly, as I said, it starts at home.

We all need to get to work.