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grain, and that while the Western
world is awash in surplus food,
African babies are starving? How
dare we spend unthinkable sums a
week on weapons, when 300,000
Asían children go blind each year
for the want of three cents' worth
each of Vitamin A?
A 16-year-old today has never
known a world in which man has not
walked on the moon. He has his own
calculator, transistor tape player and
is not awed by the computer. He
takes those wonders for granted. But
if we can do that, why are people still
living in poverty?
Why should a teenager feel that
he oc she has to embrace the tradi–
tional, accepted values
of a world like this?
What's so great about
"the Protestant work
ethic" when govern–
ments admit that they
can offer so little pros–
pect of constructive
employment now, in
the future, or, as is the
case of sorne countries,
possibly ever ?
Perhaps older people
do not give the young
enough credit for per–
ception. Many teen–
agers are not just "reb–
els without a cause" or
going through a diffi–
cult stage. They are deeply disturbed
by the crazy, mixed-up world that
they soon must inherit.
My teenage daughter was recently
looking through a copy of a news–
magazine. She was reading an article
describing the phenomenal success
of a doll that comes complete with
adoption papers. Parents were liter–
ally fighting each other in the stores
to get hold of one of these at a cost of
around $30, for they had become an
instant status symbol.
On the same page was an adver–
tisement asking for help to support
underprivileged children in Thi rd
World countries. They were asking
for donations of around US$14 a
month. My daughter was furious.
"Thirty dollars for a stupid doll,
and they have to beg people to give
$14 for a real baby ... that's
... that's-" Words failed her!
Why, then, should we expect
young people to embrace the values
of a world where balf the popula-
July/August 1985
tion live in squalor, misery and pov–
erty, and where everybody- rich
and poor- lives under the threat of
nuclear extinction?
When a group of young musicians
see children dying in Ethiopia and
are provoked to use their talents to
do something about
it,
it is a good
sign. This is
not
a world that should
be taken as it comes. lt
needs
some–
thing to be done about it. lt is a
situation that críes out for protest.
But by protesting, surely you
should not make matters
worse!
Why Prote s ts Fa il
Young people today must consider
this. They aren't the first to protest.
Following the success of the British
pop stars, leading U.S. singers have
ra ised millions for Africa wi th their
recording "We Are the World."
The world is full of sad, disillusioned
and frustrated middle-aged ex-revo–
lutionaries, wbose idealism has given
way to bitterness. Once they too
were angry. They could no longer
tolerate the way things were. They
joined a movement-and sometimes
even succeeded in overthrowing the
established arder. Once in power
they had their chance to salve the
problems.
But they couldn't.
As they grew older, the young
firebrands discovered that they did
not have the answers either. Now
they often resort to force and
repression to stay in power, for a
new generation is waiting in the
wings-angry and impatient-ea–
ger for their chance. They have
learned what revolutionar ies always
must learn-all they had to offer
was just another way of messing
things up.
To make a protest that counts,
you need first to understand the
real nature of the problem, and sec–
ond, you should be able to offer a
solution. Otherwise you are just
adding to the sum total of misery
and frustration in an already con–
fused world.
Ask yourself, Do you really
understand what is wrong with the
world today?
Why
aren't problems
being solved?
Do
you
know?
Protesters think they know. Revo–
lutionaries believe that problems
would be solved if only
this government was
toppled, or that person
was removed from of–
fice, or such and such a
law was passed so that
this or that group could
be given their "rights."
It isn't as simple as
that. The problems of
this world go deeper.
You must understand
what has gone wrong–
and why. Only the per–
son who understands
this can begin to take
steps that will succeed
in making things bet–
ter.
Real Root of World Problems
In the opening pages of the Bible is
a story of Adam and Eve in the gar–
den of Eden. You probably know
the story-of how God forbade the
first man and woman from eating
the fruit of a certain tree in the gar–
den. But, in the guise of a serpent,
Satan persuaded them to disobey.
Most people now dismiss this as
myth. By doing so, they miss the
real significance. When Adam and
Eve decided to listen to Satan, rath–
er than God, they laid the founda–
tion for the world we know. They, in
a sense, decided to protest against
the rules God had outlined to them.
They played right into the hands of
the archenemy of the human race–
Satan.
There is a fascination with Satan
today. It comes out in many of the
themes and settings of the video
music tapes. Older people may be
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