Circum Spective

verbal exhibitionism

They move from cell phone conversation to text message to tweet to website to i-tune to ... and then start all over again. This generation seems incapable of contemplation. And that is a very bad thing. Because if one is incapable of quiet contemplation, then one is equally incapable of hearing God's voice on a consistent basis.

I understand that the endless stream of gadgets and technology have prevented the latest generation from learning how to think, how to focus, how to concentrate and how to be comfortable with quietness. I even understand people wanting to be constantly distracted from their own self-doubt and self-loathing. But what I do not understand is the pandemic of verbal exhibitionism.

What I do not understand is why this generation has decided that the rest of us must be forced to listen to their endless, empty drivel.

Why must the rest of us be forced to overhear all their inappropriately public cell phone conversations? Without saying it in so many words, they all seem to be screaming: "Hey everybody, look at me! Look at me! Listen to what I think. Hey everybody, I'm cool, too. Pay attention to me.
Hey everybody, I know how to talk very loudly on a cell phone. Do you wanna listen?!"

 ... NO. As a matter of fact, we don't.

This new pandemic of verbal exhibitionism is downright infantile.
Apparently, somebody's mommy or daddy didn't pay enough attention to him or her.

We are raising a generation of insecure, immature, easily distracted exhibitionists who are terrified of silence and completely incapable of quiet contemplation and prayer.
And I'm not talking about unbelievers here. Of course, they won't be able to recognize God's voice.
I am referring to the generations being raised by professing Christians.

Raising God-fearing children (who will become God-fearing adults) is about so much more than just dragging them to church and "saying prayers" at bedtime. It begins with things as fundamental as teaching them how to think. Not what to think, but how to think. A child -- a person -- must practice being quiet and still with his own thoughts. A child must be encouraged to be contemplative. A child must have role models who are comfortable with quietness, stillness and silence, role models who pray (and not just the talking kind of prayer, but also the waiting and listening kind).

Children must be taught to hear and to recognize God's still, small voice.

It appears to me, however, that we are raising a generation of people who are incapable of that.