It is a truism that as we get older our opinions harden and we lose the ability to look at different points of view as flexibly as we used to when we were younger and not as set in our ways. It is a truism, but I'm not entirely sure it is true. Perhaps it was so in former generations-but even folks like me, in their forties and fifties, seem to be asking more questions-not only about the world, but about their marriages, their spirituality and their relationships with their children. A lot of the societal structures that rooted previous generations have lost their authority or are being strongly challenged.
There are many indicators that we have evolved into a society in which staying flexible and asking questions is a matter of sheer survival. Personal technologies are changing so fast that if we don't keep up with our kids, we get left way behind. As a middle-class professional, you don't stay, by and large, where your family lives, but move along with your job. American men and women don't feel "less than", for the most part, if they are not or have never been married. They have little respect for politicians in general-though they may like their own representative or senator. In part because of denominational scandals and in part because we are a culture in which individualism is almost idolized, it seems that America is moving into a post-denominational era in which Christians, at least will freely move between churches. As more citizens stay healthy and live longer, they are simply going to have more decisions to make-where to live, where to work, what golf course to favor (grin).
Instability isn't always a bad thing. It can create anxiety. But sometimes it also forces us to stay limber, hungry, ready to engage the big questions of life-the ones that inspire and excite and challenge us to move forward with passion, not zeal.
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