Hero Youth

If labeling were important, how would you label the today’s youth?
Some might label them: “nowhere”, “unengaged”, “selfish”, lazy”, drugged-out”, or “in debt”.

Certainly, having once been a young person myself, I know that labels can not be pasted on people – no matter the generation. But, today, I’m going to toss caution to the wind and label a few young people, members of a few college Republican groups, as heroes.

Like some of the youth of my ancient past and generations before mine, these men and women have taken a stand against the hypocrisy of the establishment (their elders).

Front and center are the students at Liberty University, the republican bastion of Christian fundamentalism, who declared their repudiation of Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s endorsement of Mr. Donald Trump. (Go here for the story.. the text below the video.)

Liberty University was founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. The school is now considered the heart of evangelical Christian education and also one of the largest by enrollment in the US.

Among other comments, posted online, the Liberty students wrote:

“Because our president has led the world to believe that Liberty University supports Donald Trump, we students must take it upon ourselves to make clear that Donald Trump is absolutely opposed to what we believe, and does not have our support. We are not proclaiming our opposition to Donald Trump out of bitterness, but out of a desire to regain the integrity of our school.”

The Liberty University students’ courageous act (and those of students at other colleges and universities) brought to mind the establishment changing actions of other generations.

For the 60s/70s generation of students, the music of recent Nobel laureate, Bob Dylan, came to symbolize their discord.

The Times They Are a-Changin' is one of Dylan’s songs which resonated with me then and still does to this day:

Here's my salute to the new generation of hero students.

The Times They Are a-Changin'
Bob Dylan

Come gather 'round people where ever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone,
For the times they are a' changin'!

Come writers and critics who prophesy with your pen
And keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'
For the loser now will be later to win
For the times they are a' changin'!

Come senators, congressmen please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside and it's ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
For the times they are a' changin'!

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land
And don't criticize what you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
Your old road is rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a' changin'!

The line it is drawn the curse it is cast
The slow one now will later be fast
As the present now will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin'
And the first one now will later be last
For the times they are a' changin'!