Thedewsperspective

by Cornell Dews

I’m old enough to remember asking GOD to forgive us when we cursed.  Do you remember us doing that?  I’m also old enough to remember us being apologetic and asking for forgiveness from our elders whom we may have cursed in front of.  Remember that?  I can close my eyes and see myself as a child. I sat quietly in our living room. All electrical appliances were shut off during a thunderstorm.  The whole family would gather in one space in silence.  We were told that GOD was working.  And we believed them.  I remember as a kid, whether we went to church or not, we had a reverence for GOD.  We had a level of respect for all our elders.  And a child stayed in a child’s place.  Hierarchy brings order, and order stifles chaos.  As a community, we once understood that.  “What happened? ” 

Recently I watched a young rapper interviewed on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast with Gillie and Wallo.  Excellent podcast.  The interviewee was a 22 year old rapper named NLE Choppa.  NLE Choppa is a very successful and popular rapper amongst the youth.  The interview was extremely positive, informative and introspective.  There was a lot discussed. However, the statement that resonated with me the most was when NLE Choppa said, “I think the biggest problem with the youth and our community is we’re not being trained to know who GOD is or what prayer is.” 

I intentionally started this editorial mentioning points in my childhood when we intentionally did things to acknowledge GOD.  Whether or not if it seemed so minuscule, we uttered the word GOD or displayed reverence for GOD by at least acknowledging a source greater than ourselves.  I wasn’t raised in the church, but practically every moral, value and principle I stand on is biblically referenced.  That’s because those elders who loved and cared for me enough to spend time with me, teach me, invest in me and impart knowledge in me were raised in the church.  They knew GOD.  So they introduced GOD to me.  And I can honestly say, that made all the difference in my life. 

But why now do we have kids who can boldly say, they don’t know GOD?  Why don’t they know GOD?  Why don’t they know how to pray?  Why weren’t we adamant about sharing our faith and religion with our children?  And I’m not just talking about our biological children.  I’m talking about all children.  In the same manner that the elders who raised us did.  What happened to us?  Why did it happen to us?  Is not the death and decay of our youth too costly of a price to pay for our inability or reluctance to share our faith and religion with them?

I tell my Pastor all the time that I blame my generation for dropping the ball.  At 51 years old, I can honestly say, it angers and saddens me that we purposely chose not to raise our children the way our parents raised us.  When I say “we” I’m speaking as a community.  It can’t be argued that our community today is a better community than the one we were raised in.  Granted, there are a lot of socioeconomical, political, and countless other intentionally targeted hurdles that exist solely to derail our community.  I believe that.   But that’s nothing new.  We’ve always been confronted with huge challenges, obstacles and societal ills.  And by the grace of GOD, we’ve always prevailed as a community.  But that’s because we knew HIM then.  And apparently that’s the greatest difference today with our youth.  They don’t know GOD.  Or maybe they do know HIM but are ashamed to publicly acknowledge HIM.  Can we envision how different our community would be? What if the youth not only knew GOD but publicly acknowledged HIM? What if they prayed to GOD and sought to live the purpose-filled life GOD created for them?  Prayerfully it’s not too late for us to model this behavior for them.  Because how would they know to do it if we don’t show them?