I was in a parking lot on the heights of Concord the other day when a young man rode by on a bicycle. He must have been in his 20s, and he was talking on a cell phone as he rode. He seemed very angry and was yelling into the phone.
It struck me as he rode by that the country and the world seem to be filled with anger at this point in history. As I reflected on that thought, I realized that I have never felt such tension in the world since I was a teenager and we were involved in the Vietnam War.
Young people were filled with anger back in the 1970s, and protests and riots were almost commonplace; they seem to be making a comeback.
We have come off a very heated election season into a very polarized administration. Every day brings some new controversy and sets off another round of angst for the American people. Every week we read and see on TV violent acts that are affecting us and our neighbors in other countries. Our leaders seem to be at the center of many of these events rather than trying to avoid them. It sometimes seems like the adults have left the world stage, and children are running the countries.
This is so concerning because how can we as parents and people who work with children be reassuring to the youth when we are constantly watching other adults behave in immature and destructive ways?
When the Boy Scouts of America are exposed to a president who cuts down the previous president at their Jamboree – what do we, as adults, say to them?
I am concerned that our children are not learning to respect authority and to be honest and fair to each other. Both Girl and Boy Scout mottos instruct the children to “help others,” but they are being told by the politicians in charge of our country to not work together and to be at odds with each other. It is time for the adults of this country to step up and try to live in a manner that is consistent with adult behavior.
When anger seems to be random and misplaced, it hurts all of society. There are many countries that use anger as a way to control others.
We see it every day as ISIS attracts many young people over the internet, and it uses anger as a way to make these young people want to join a group that is intent on hurting others. Many of these young people are still in their teens and therefore still in the age group of many of my patients. We adults need to stand against this culture of anger and give our children and adolescents reason to hope for the future, not reasons to dread growing up.
So I urge everyone to look around and spread some kindness to people you don’t know, people of other cultures and religions. Let’s not get caught up in the anger, but try to spread hope and calm in the midst of the turmoil in our society.
We need to do this in order to help our children grow into healthy, responsible adults. It starts with us.
(Dr. Patricia Edwards of Bow is a pediatrician and president of Concord Pediatrics in Concord.)