There are just symptoms. Teens don't fear the pain of violence as much as they're afraid that a violent crime will rob them of a future. School shootings introduce the possibility that their lives may be taken from them. If they don't have enough money to go to the right college, they might not get the job they want; if they don't land a high paying job, they probably won't have a "successful, happy" future. Their worries are a more sophisticated version of their childhood fears. "I'm afraid that something out there is going to get me. I don't know what it is—or exactly what it might do to me—but I want someone to get rid of it before it hurts me. Don't leave me to face this future/monster alone."
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If you ask teens about the future, they will respond with mixed messages. A 15-year-old from Washington: "I can't decide if I want to be famous, or if I want to go live in the mountains.
That's what it's like for a lot of high school kids: "We don't know how to get there, what it's really going to be like."
A 17-year-old from Mississippi: "We're supposed to be stressed-out, pessimistic, lonely, and frustrated. At least that's what the media tells us. Actually, I'm basically a happy guy; and I think most of my friends are, too. I sure hope my generation doesn't buy into everything we're told."
A 16-year-old from Florida: "I can't remember not being worried about something. Sometimes I'm happy, but most of the time I'm just worried."
As Christian youth workers, we'd like to think our teens are best represented by the voice of the 17-year-old from Mississippi; they're happy, they've learned to trust God with their futures, and they're not overly anxious about anything. I asked several youth ministers from various states to distribute a short, anonymous survey to their teens in order to identify their worries, interests and thoughts about the future. Of nearly 300 surveys returned, 30 percent were clearly optimistic about the future, expressing an excitement for discovering what God has in store, trusting that it will be "cool!" Only 10 percent were overtly pessimistic. Their comments included such statements as: "I think Christianity will be banned/persecuted so much, it will almost disappear"; "I'm worried about where our world will be"; "Our country is going downhill"; and "It's scary thinking about where I'll be." Another 10 percent responded with mixed feelings, such as, "I want to do what God wants me to do, but sometimes it's hard to know what He wants."
Regardless of their degree of optimism/pessimism, though, thoughts of the future do drive choices they make in the present. Even our church youths who express the desire to serve God say they're uncomfortable because they don't know how. Uncertainty makes the future scary.
A couple of years ago, some colleagues of mine surveyed several thousand youths to find out what topics they were most interested in studying. The overwhelming, number-one response from senior highers was discovering how to know God's will; for junior highers it was their second-biggest concern.
