6.11.2012

Because You Are Young

"We are Young" by pop group FUN. starts off by painting a picture of 20-somethings in a bar getting high with friends and making memories over shared interests of alcohol. "Tonight we are young so let's set the world on fire. We can burn brighter than the sun" the song rings many times over.

Similarly, "Young, Wild, and Free" by Bruno Mars depicts youthfulness as a logical reason for making questionable choices. "So what, we get drunk, so what we smoke weed" (or "don't sleep" in the edited version), "We're just having fun, we don't care who sees. So what, we go out. That's how it's supposed to be living young and wild and free."

Kenny Chesney's "Young" reminisces, "We were wanna-be rebels who didn't have a clue in our rock and roll t-shirts and our typically bad attitudes; had no excuses for the things we'd done. We were brave, we were crazy, we were mostly young, young."

"We can dance until we die, you and I will be young forever" sings Katy Perry in "Teenage Dream," a song that on the surface seems to be about high school love ("love"), but upon a closer look seems to reveal a nostalgic longing for past carefree youthfulness.

"So we livin life like a video where the sun is always out and you never get old... Cuz there's no tomorrow, just a picture perfect day... So let's stay in the moment- smoke some weed, drink some wine. Leave a mark they can't erase, neither space nor time. So when the director yells, 'cut,' I'll be fine. I'm forever young" sings Jay-Z in "Forever Young."

Do you see a pattern emerging? Being young means something very specific, according to the picture these musicians paint. Living without regret or limitation is what being young is about, right? Either that, or it is the overwhelming characteristic of being young. Perhaps, you argue, this is just a generational understanding of what it means. "Back in the day we were more responsible- we grew up faster" you might rationalize. Oh? A quick look at similarly-themed lyrics by Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles might argue that young people haven't changed so much in the past fifty years.

Youthfulness is sought after by those who have long left that stage of life. Hair treatments, plastic surgery, makeup, Rogaine, yoga, cellulite creams, and talk show segments about looking twenty years younger emphasize the idol of youthfulness. So what is this whole business about being young anyway?

1 Timothy 4:12 has an interesting thing to say on the subject- sort of. "Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young..." Wait. Hold the phone. Didn't I just write half of a thesis on how being young is such a coveted ideal? Thinly veiled in each of those songs is the knowledge that living in such youthful ways is foolishness. The rest of the verse sheds some light on how these "young" ought to live SO THAT they are not looked down upon: "But set an example in speech, in life, in love, and in purity." Huh. "The youth of today" are looked down upon because they characteristically choose to exploit their season of life in certain ways. Foolish ways.

But what if we, as a generation, chose to enjoy our youth by ACTUALLY "leaving a mark they can't erase, neither time nor space" by being examples and walking wisely? Perhaps then, our thoughts and ideas would not be discounted. Perhaps then, we could make a difference. Perhaps then, we wouldn't waste years of our lives in self-centered foolish revelry. Just a thought.

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