A PLEA FOR THE YOUNG
GUYS TOO
A Response to “A plea to other old guys like me”
This was a post Keith Drury (my father)
put on the www.generalconference2004.com
site in May 2004.
He was speaking to his generation. I felt compelled to speak also to my
generation on the site in response.
Well, the
boomers reading on the www.generalconference2004.com
site have been spoken to by whom some are calling The Wesleyan Prophet (OR more
aptly, The Referee of Wesleyan Wrestle-mania) so let me speak to my Xer generation, and my younger brother's Millennials:
REALIZE THAT THIS KIND OF STUFF DOESN'T
COME NATURALLY TO EVERYONE - You wouldn’t go into a nursing home and ask
your great-grandmother if she liked the last episode of Alias! Likewise, we
can't expect people in the previous generation to understand the micro-waved
pace and paparazzi-culture-tactics so many in our generation not only enjoy,
but sometimes cause. The "suits" that run things these days are
usually boomers -- and we need patience with them as we introduce the REAL
internet into the denomination much like they introduced REAL music styles into
it. From our side, we need to slow down and not bash them for being slower than
us to like these things. Boomers are nothing if not into "What's New and
What's Working" so if we slow down just a fraction they'll get on board in
no time.
WE USUALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE POLITICS
BEHIND THINGS - Our generation's idealism makes us completely unaware of
the practical behind closed doors politics that are the embroidery of nearly
every memorial in front of Conference, and behind nearly every positional vote
we'll discuss. It's nice that my Dad has entered into the fray on the
discussion boards and commented on some of that (without being so offensive to
turn EVERYONE into his enemies) and EDUCATE US a bit in what is REALLY GOING ON
HERE. Our generation needs to have a healthier and pragmatic understanding of
these behind the scenes issues, and not condemn them as evil. They are part of
"The Game" and as long as we check our pride and the door and root
out slander, in the end such pragmatic politics can actually HELP the kingdom
and our denomination. But we Xers in particular need
to learn THE SYSTEM instead of just favoring anarchic independence.
BOOMERS INVENTED THE STYLES WE FAVOR --
IF NOT THE METHODS - Boomers may not have invented the internet (although
Al Gore is a Boomer) but they certainly have used the populist style in their
leadership. Their sheer numbers made them "successful
revolutionaries." Of course, when you have the power revolutions seem less
fruitfully idealistic and more destructively iconoclastic. Icons don't like to
get smashed. But if we have patience and truly dialogue with the boomers we'll
see that BOTH of our generations are actually more concerned with HOW we go
about things than WHAT we are trying to do. THEY want to make things happen as
much or more than we do. They are chomping at the bit to make a difference and
NOT BE LIKE THEIR PARENTS GENERATION. If you want to make a boomer squirm, just
tell them they're acting like their parents (like my Dad is constantly doing).
They HATE that. They WANT to be a part of change -- they are the best change
managers in the history of the church. The problem now is they have to change
the very thing they now have the power to run. Some of that might be changing
THEIR OWN JOBS. That is TOUGH. To other young leaders like me, I say: let's have
some Christlike empathy for the Boomers. If we
dialogue with them we will find that there is much common ground in style. They
invented the revolutionary styles we prefer. They just got promoted so early
that they need us to help them know what to do with the power. We need each
other!
THESE GUYS WORK HARDER THAN ME & YOU
-- Don't mess around with criticism about "not getting the job done"
or "wasting time and money" at the general level. That generation
also invented work-aholism and stress heart-attacks.
Of course, on a value level we disagree with that alternative lifestyle. We
really do value our families more. Many of us also value our own leisure and
fun more than our work too. We should respect them in part for their
determination and grit -- and its all the more reason for us to recruit them
for the revolution rather than offend them with it. They'll get more done.
Let's put these boomer workhorses to work for the future!
BOOMERS AT HEADQUARTERS ARE STRANGELY
SILENT IN SUPPORT OR CRITICISM -- Some are posting comments about "The
Man" being against this web-site and trying to nail us posters or the site
creators. What are we -- the Black Panthers? Guess what -- the boomers at HQ
are strangely silent in their criticism of the underground General Conference
web site. But for one solitary e-mail from Ron Kelly, I haven't seen much
public condemnation of this "movement attempt" so far. And that
e-mail was certainly mostly in response to that "infamous picture"
and not to the rest of it. Perhaps they see the end positive result that COULD
come of this and are holding their chips for a bit to see what happens. Hey =
here's something to think about... maybe some HQ people actually WANT this kind
of thing to happen but can't speak to it publicly for fear of embarrassment.
FINALLY = WE XERS MAY NEVER BE IN POWER
-- do the demographics and you'll see what I mean. We're too darn small of a
generation to make the kind of mark the boomers have. And the Millennials are near twice our size and they were born
knowing how to create web-sites and write e-mail in the bathtub. Of course,
that's in part because so many of US were aborted (half of the pregnancies
conceived in my birth year, 1974, were terminated BTW -- now you boomers can
see some of the chip on OUR shoulders too. We have to say 2x as much stuff to
make up for the half of us that are missing.) We may end up being like that
previous "Silent Generation" some day: never having a
David Drury
Forced Student of Boomer Sociology
©2004 David Drury
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