A Little Child Shall Lead Them     

   Or maybe not. Isaiah 11:6 points to a future age when there is peace on Earth.

   Here and now, this week we were conversing with Rex (not his real name) about high school kids marching and telling us on TV they've had it with our guns and our attitudes. Can't blame them for their anger at a system that sometimes fails.

   We don't like some things too - warnings that go unheeded by authorities, mentally troubled young men given access to rifles, and politicians who use others' misery to advance their hidden agenda.

   Rex is troubled by 16-year-olds, articulate as some are, telling the rest of us they know how things should be, and to get out of their way. 

   There is a reason one must be at least 25 to be elected to Congress, 30 to be a senator, and 35 to be president. 

   We pointed out that Washington, DC entertains thoughts of letting 16-year-olds vote. He replied, "At 16 they don't know anything." 

   Can't argue with that. We still didn't know much in our 30s. 

   Wisdom comes with age, Rex said. To which we added, for some, it never comes. 

   He frets that politicians use the youth to voice their agenda, banking on the horror of terrors like Parkland, Fla. (Never let a crisis go to waste.) Remember that line from Rahm Emanuel, now mayor of Chicago.

   It's good to listen to youth, agree when possible, and pray for them. 

   But every generation leaves an imperfect world for the next, and in time these future grown-ups will do the same. Meanwhile, they need to understand the prospect of unintended consequences, and they need to wait their turn to vote. 

      Jimmy