Many teens want to live in ways that are healthy and moral, in spite of the example set by the adult generation. But are they choosing spirituality without God?
by Cecil E. Maranville
She was about 16, walking with a male companion
of similar age, when I saw her in a department store recently. Her carefully
crafted outfit caught my eye. Definitely a "style," it couldn't be called "stylish." Her
black pullover top matched her baggy, military-style pants, as did her
cumbersome, heavy boots. The look she cultivated was "accented" by jewelry
pierced through curiously creative locations about her face and head.
The pièce de résistance was the pair of men's flannel boxer
shorts she was wearing, carefully arranged to extend 3 or 4 inches above
her belt-line.
Although garbed in paramilitary dress and
similarly decorated with metal studs about his face and head, her male
companion did not manage to match her "fashion statement" for garishness.
Are they typical of the 22 million teenagers
in the United States? No, thankfully, according to Sharon Begley, whose
article about teens, "A World of Their Own," appeared in the May 8, 2000,
issue of Newsweek. Psychologist William Damon of Stanford University
told Begley, "today's teens may have less in common with each other than
those in generations past." Teens cannot and should not be lumped into
a single category or judged by fringe extremists like those described
above. Millions exhibit individuality, strong ambition and genuine values.
Despite the fact that the 22 million American
teenagers cannot be depicted by a single stereotype, the purpose of the Newsweek article
was to address the emerging "portrait of the millennial generation." There
are encouraging signs-and some discouraging ones.
"They are spiritual"
One of the current trends highlighted in Newsweek's polling
grabbed my attention. "They're spiritual..." begins the drophead of the above article
by Sharon Begley. She writes in the body of the article that the present
generation of teens is more spiritual than their parents are. A companion
article in the same issue, "Searching for a Holy Spirit," by John Leland,
reports that, "Young people are openly passionate about religion...." A Newsweek poll
of teenagers found that religion was important to 78 percent of them.
