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Every generation hand-wrings about the generation following. It tends to think the young punk kids are undisciplined, lazy, disrespectful, brash, disloyal and the list goes on and on. The world in the hands of the next generation, common thought goes, is precarious at best...the kids are bound to fumble it.
With this in mind, I'd like to tell you three stories.
A couple of weeks ago an Ohio boy was walking across a Cracker Barrel parking lot when he spied a twenty-dollar bill on the ground. His name is Myles Eckert and his dad had been killed in Iraq.
He entered the restaurant with his unexpected treasure and all sorts of thoughts dancing through his head about what he could buy with that money.
A moment later, a soldier walked in and Myles got a different idea. He grabbed a small piece of paper and wrote a short note:
Dear Soldier,
My dad was a soldier. He's in heaven now. I found this $20 in the parking lot when we got here. We like to pay it forward in my family. It's your lucky day. Thank you for your service.
Myles Eckert, a gold star kid
He made his way to the soldier's table and handed him the note and the twenty-dollar bill.
The soldier, Lt. Colonel Frank Daly, was speechless. He said later that Myles had given him far more than twenty dollars; he had given him a lifetime direction and he said he hopes that this will inspire others to do more.
Myles Eckert is 8.
Malik Stewart lost in the finals of the Minnesota state wrestling tournament 120 weight class earlier this month. But he knew his opponent, Mitchell McKee, would soon lose something far greater.
Sitting in the stands that day was Mitchell's proud father...a father who was dying of cancer. Stewart, after losing this championship match, was teary eyed and disappointed, but instead of sulking or seeking comfort from his coach as virtually every wrestler does, he walked over and hugged the dying father of his opponent who had just beaten him.
"He won," Stewart said of opponent Mitchell McKee. "He was pretty proud, and his dad was pretty proud. So I went over there and I shook his hand, embraced him a little bit, and told him to stay strong and everybody loves him.
"I got a little teary because I lost the match, and I knew the hard times he was going through," Stewart added. "The crowd went wild and I heard a couple people say after I did it - that was pretty classy - but I just did it straight from the heart."
You see, Stewart understood what McKee was going through. He had lost his father at age seven to a heart attack.
Malik Stewart is 15.
Just after the new year, in Hangu, a remote town in northwest Pakistan, Aitzaz Hasan showed up to school like every other day. Aitzaz was described by most as an average student, nothing special or out of the ordinary.
As school was about to begin, Aitzaz noticed someone suspicious entering the building. Something didn't look right. Suddenly he realized it was a suicide bomber.
In an instant Aitzaz ran at the intruder to try to prevent him from getting into the school. He grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground, when suddenly...there was an explosion.
Aitzaz and the bomber were both dead.
Saved were 450 kids gathered for a morning assembly, the target of the suicide bomber.
Aitzaz was 14 years old.
Worry all you want. Fret until you freak out. I think the coming generations will be just fine.
Actually, they could be better than fine.
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