Lions From Lambs

The world is tough, and it’s not going to get any easier. Every adult knows this, but children don’t. We don’t necessarily need to tell them about all the terrible things that are out there – they’ll discover those things in their own time. 

We do, however, have a duty to raise children into strong young adults, equipped with the skills and centering that will allow them to face those difficulties when they inevitably arise.

It is not simply the dangers in the world that raise the stakes of raising children.

By the time current elementary students leave high school and set out into their first stage of adulthood, they will not have the same leverage that those of us who are adults now had. The fast food and grocery store jobs that were a refuge for us simply won’t be there to let them have a year or two of breathing room after 13 years of school. 

Major retail and hospitality corporations – the very companies where non college graduates seek post secondary employment – are exploring new methods of delivering their products or services.

Amazon has piloted drone delivery of certain packages and Uber has launched driverless cars in Las Vegas, with plans to expand to Los Angeles and beyond after 2023.

My hometown of Fort Worth boasts the first fully automated McDonalds, completely run by robots. This location was opened as a test run to explore the possibility of expanding the model companywide – which will inevitably lead to an industry-wide revolution. 

We have a solemn duty to prepare our children for this daunting reality into which they will enter within only a decade. 

We must shift our perspective surrounding our children, from their development being simply an addition to our lives, to being the priority and central pillar of our lives. We owe them this. We brought them into the world and we owe each and every one of them the best preparation and opportunity to fulfill their individual purpose.

This is not to say we should encourage children to grow up into self-centered monsters who dominate and destroy everything in their path – only that they should have the capacity to do so. While much of their preparation for life must be focused on competitive skills, we must also teach them empathy, compassion, restraint, and many other virtues. 

Strength combined with moral restraint is the highest virtue. We don’t want to raise children into adults who are weak and afraid, because that will leave them at the mercy of those who aren’t. There is a balance in life that must be maintained in order for society to flourish.

There will always be jackals at the gates, and if society is comprised only of sheep, the jackals will destroy it. But a society of lions will always keep the jackals at bay.