ONCE I WAS YOUNG

July 18, 2018. This week, while going through some old boxes, I rediscovered my 1958 High School Annual. Finding the annual wasn’t surprising. The big surprise was how young my classmates and I looked. Each picture brought back memories of individuals and the events we shared. I believe my graduating class was the most positive, best looking, and most intelligent group of all time (I am prejudiced).

Looking at the sports sections of the annual our high school football team looked like a peewee team yet; we won our conference in ‘58. I noticed a picture of one of our starting tackles; he weighed 183 pounds. I was a running back and weigh in at 165 pounds. Many of my peers had drivers’ licenses and drove, usually the family car. It’s hard to believe that our parents let us out of the house in the evening to drive, we were so young.

Last week, I saw some high school kids standing outside their school and others walking home. Most of them have a backpack. I don’t think I knew what a backpack was until my son became a Cub Scout. We carried our books in our arms or left them in our locker at school. Today, students carry, in addition to books, gym shoes, tablets, laptops, smartphones, thumb drives, and an occasional taco or soda. Maybe, they don’t carry books, the school curriculum is on the web.

Upon seeing these kids, my thought is always, “How young they look.” Quickly followed by, “Wow, to think that one day soon, these youngsters will vote.” Can they be trusted with the future?

When my wife and I eat out, it seems that I should call my fellow patrons, “Sir.” I can’t be one of them, can I?  Where did the time go? Can it be that I look as old as my contemporaries? My wife answers, “Yes.” I guess that answers the question, why I don’t go to class reunions or celebration services. I so want to remember people the way I remember them.

I worry about today’s kids, looking so young. Then, I remember, once I was young.

The Bible offers many verses addressed to the young. Here are several:

  • “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity” (1 Timothy 4:12).
  • “But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak” (Jeremiah 1:7).
  • “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
  • “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22).
  • “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).