Young World – November 2012
Forward Movement
Just prior to the November elections, I wrote about the impact of today’s political
battles on the Young World. I made note of how the negative campaigning could create
negative views or negative reactions in young people.
Unfortunately, my worst fears were confirmed on Wednesday, November 7 – the
day after our elections. Instead of acknowledging the repetition of a historic
Presidential election, schools across the country, were forced to beg students not to be
disrespectful to each other or speak disrespectfully of President Barack Obama. What is
more unfortunate is that these despicable acts occurring in schools are merely a
reflection of the opinions, conversations and cyber messaging widely occurring in
homes, coffee shops and on the “Twitterverse”.
Despite years of progress toward “stable” race relations, we have allowed our
current political differences to drag us back to one of the ugliest periods in this country’s
recent history. Blatant racial attacks directed at our President have become a normal
occurrence – immediately followed by a statement that sounds something like, “I’m not
How can we expect our young people to move beyond the handicaps of previous
generations when we constantly reach for hate? I completely understand that folks have
widely varying opinions on a multitude of topics. But, is it acceptable for me to demean
you or for you to humiliate me because of our differences of opinion? I think NOT!
Our elections are over (we think). Candidates have been selected and now we are
all charged with the business of moving our country forward. I can say from experience,
that it is extremely difficult to move forward when you are constantly looking backward.
At this point, we should be working together to restore the greatness of our country to
its pinnacle. After all, most of our differences of opinion are centered on HOW we
should move our country forward. We all agree that there is a need to do something.
We unfortunately would rather argue about what to do than to work together and get
something done. What are our young people to gain from this “adult behavior”?
The Young World already knows that adults are crazy. This is widely accepted as
fact in the young world. Hopefully, our young people ignore the craziness and focus on
the need to get invested and get involved. Our future depends on the Young World! Be Young! Have Fun!
Columnist Chris Dinkins is an educator and native South Carolinian. His viewpoint is based on personal, classroom and volunteer experiences. Send questions and comments about youth related issues to him at youngworld.scarolina@gmail.com.
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