As explained in the book The Fourth Turning, generations look like four basic archetypes. This current generation of young people is known as “the Hero Generation.” And you have to look at young people and ask, will that happen? Can they be heroes?
According to the book, before a generation can be known for its heroism, two things need to occur:
1. An unraveling of authority
This is an era where “institutions are weak and distrusted, while individualism is strong and flourishing. Unravellings follow Awakenings.”
It’s fair to say that the last decade or so, this has been happening in America.
2. A crisis
“This is an era in which America’s institutional life is torn down and rebuilt from the ground up—always in response to a perceived threat to the nation’s very survival. Civic authority revives, cultural expression finds a community purpose, and people begin to locate themselves as members of a larger group.”
How big a crisis?
Are we in such a crisis? It is too early to say. In terms of the virus, death rates are lower than many had forecasted. While unemployment has shot up, many of those who lost their jobs have received payments and are not desperate yet.
It’s not like a war, where a generation of young people might respond with action by enlisting or protesting. We are at present beginning to ask how to re-engage as a society.
Still, if it’s not a crisis that demands a heroic response, it’s a pretty good start to one. It reminds me of the exchange between the sheriff and the deputy in the film No Country for Old Men, as they look at the remains of drug runners who had killed each other:
Deputy: “It’s a mess, ain’t it sheriff?”
Sheriff: “If it ain’t, it’ll do till the mess gets here!”
Yes, we look pretty messy right now. But a lot of people seem to expect that things will soon go back to normal. You have to wonder if that’s so or if what is coming our way is really an order of magnitude beyond anything we’ve ever experienced.
Already food supplies in many developing countries are drying up. There is talk of famine in parts of Africa and Asia. And around the world you can sense people looking for hope in ways that they haven’t.
I believe that it may take a few years, but if we are indeed in for a long, rough ride, we will need heroes to rise up. And if that happens, typically it is our young people who are most willing to take the kind of risks that we associate with heroes.
The Bible is a book of heroic stories. You see in it people risking life and limb to bring hope.
Jesus asked us to risk ourselves to bring hope to others. During the time of Unravelling, we watched as many of our young people had wondered if their faith was relevant anymore. Maybe that is starting to change. Maybe they are beginning to hear the call to be someone’s hero.
Thanks, Seth. A timeless personal question and not a rhetorical one is “What and for whom are we willing to give our lives?” The answer to that question is the North Star for everything. Love you.
Butch
We are definitely in a 4th Turning.
“The risk of catastrophe will be very high. The nation could erupt into insurrection or civil violence, crack up geographically, or succumb to authoritarian rule. If there is a war, it is likely to be one of maximum risk and effort — in other words, a total war. Every Fourth Turning has registered an upward ratchet in the technology of destruction, and in mankind’s willingness to use it.”
Biblically speaking it occurs to me that the power structures in the four ages listed in the Book of Daniel were all ushered in via conquest. The final one will be ushered in via deception so profound that ‘even the elect would be deceived if that were possible.’ Mat 24:24 When asked about the signs of the last days, the first thing Jesus said to His disciples “take heed that no man deceive you…”.Mat 24:4 While I can imagine several scenarios for the coming years, there is onlybone thing of which I am certain; I have never seen deception so profound as I am seeing now. We need Holy Spirit discernment and a clear understanding of Truth more than ever now.
It’s helpful to have someone like yourself, Brian, who has studied “The 4th Turning” to correlate it to a biblical perspective. We’re going to see societal change that takes our breath away.
Always great to hear from you, Butch. And yes – that is the question!
Historians debate: Does the times create the hero or heroes arise regardless of the times? Theologians debate: Is this the sign that history is approaching it’s end or something less?
Wall Street has it’s view, and Main Street has it’s perspective.
The same invitation an itinerant prophet/preacher gave nearly 2100 years stands today: Follow Me, and your life will impact others beyond your imagination. Yes, it takes courage, but the way has already been blazed, and others are ahead even now.
Amen, Brian. The precedent is clear and has been the pattern for us ever since.