An Expensive Run

The clouds were heavy. Thunder had been intermittently testing its voice. But at "this" moment, there was no rain. So, a 4 mile run was in order.

There is nothing like the threat of impending rain to cause one to test one's speed, with the hopes of beating its downpour by making it home - first. 

Forget making it home dry. Rain like Bible-Famous-Noah's Tsunami hit about mile 3. Ignoring the option to turn off to many family members' alcoves along the way, I pressed on. The rain surpassed my speed and did not slow down. 

Like all 21st century runners, of course we have something tech close at hand for listening entertainment. My proverbial smart phone was in an armband case. How funny of me to assume it could survive. 

By the time I made it home, I was soaked wet. And everything on me as well. I can survive with a little rain but not the phone. With a bit of dismantling, drying with a towel, consulting YouTube for how to use the magical "dry rice" treatment, and some big hopes - I succumbed to the idea that it was in trouble. Hello, Verizon Service Guy - can you help me? 

Thus ensued my discovery that not only was the phone shot, but I'd have to wait for a new one to be shipped to me. In the meantime I was dealt a loner. That was a horrific experience in itself (so bad, I was almost ready for a rotary phone. You laugh. But it was awful). Over 12 days later and the "smart phone" still had not come home. The wait ensued. 

Here's my point: a fast run, to stay healthy and disciplined, with the goal of making it home before the rain was an initial great goal. But the demolishing of a phone, in the rain, and days of being without my right hand has given me pause. 

Guilty. I'm just like many of the 21st century phone touting adults. Used as a tool for work, time killer, entertainment, a way to keep in touch it is indeed second nature for me to consult it - constantly. It's my crutch for my introvert-ness self in a crowd who does not want to talk to people: I hide behind my phone. It's my anthem of coolness - carrying a smart phone, and using it for maps, directions, flight details, tracking world news, taking pictures, and more. And it's my resource to make sure every moment counts for productivity. The trivia a Verizon Rep shared with me did not come as a surprise: that for many people it is the first thing they touch in the morning, and the last thing they touch at night. I'm not sure why this is trivia to some of us - it's just fact. 

So my point of this piece is more of an examination in the mirror: I like my phone, use my phone, but have abused my phone. In the same way you're thrown off your stride when you can't use a hand, or you're without a car, this has been expensive by throwing me off my rhythm. 

Truth be told - the expense was probably worth it.  Being without it has shown me how much I don't need it. Don't worry I'm not going rogue and throwing it away but I hope to be more mindful that there is life beyond the screen. And becoming obsessed with a phone and everything on it is not healthy. This too is good to remember.

So, here's to runs. In the rain. And finding the 21st century magnificent technology is not yet perfect. With rain - and the quality moments of life as examples - it just can't beat or replace everything. And that's ok. It is still annoying to be without the grandiose smart phone but life will continue. 

- AJH

Quit Making Excuses for the Millennials

Quit making excuses for the young adult generation.

It feels like my generation has full time lobbyists who are busy clarifying to the world as to why we do not have jobs, have not reached the American pinnacle of success, are not financially prosperous, still live in our parents' basements and just overall have an air of irresponsibility. Whether via voices in the media, academia, marketplace or local neighborhood, these lines have become oh too familiar: "The economy is so bad to be looking for a job right now and jobless rates are so high! College graduates can't find jobs in their fields. This is a tough time to be starting a career and a family."  Please, stop making excuses for my generation.

Now, don't mis-understand me. In no way am I highlighting those of my peers who are working to find a job and the doors keep closing. I applaud them for their fortitude and perseverance! Instead, I'm highlighting a general cultural mindset of older adult role models to the Millennials.
 

A wise man once said "Children will rise to the level of expectation."  Have you considered what expectations you have of us?  

Even among our own peer group, an assumption is perpetuated that those with college degrees absolutely cannot work at the jobs obtainable without a degree. My question is: Why not? Since when did we become too proud to work a less than ideal job, so to have income? Where did we miss the lesson to love working in general, and recognize the reward of it? How did we meld into this mindset that working two jobs, getting our hands dirty and humbling ourselves to work outside our trained field – is impossible?

Instead of focusing on the “poverty” of what we face as a generation, we should be looking at this hour in our culture as opportunity!! Check out these young people in history who did not sit back and let circumstances dictate their success:

The Millennials

This piece is written a few months ago, as a response to the concerned American Patriot who sees the direction our country is headed and desperately wants to awaken the “next generation” before it’s “too late”. But they do not know how to get the young person’s attention and they wonder if it’s worth the attempt. But before an action plan is formed, it is vital that they understand this generation, its culture, and worldview.

The Millennials 

Written by Amy J. Hawkins, a Millennial from Michigan

Josef Stalin once said: "America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within."

As the Millennial generation, our world is very convoluted. Everything is relative. There are few absolutes and of those that do exist, many are morphed from their original intent. We have been raised on crumbling bedrock of diluted and re-created “truths”. It would not be surprising if we have the most discombobulated worldview since the fall of the Roman Empire.

This young adult generation has grown up in a culture of death. Our understanding of the value of life, from the unborn to the aging senior, is non-existent because we do not value our own. And, sadly, many times death is more appealing than life.

Our worldview is defined by the images on the TV screens and by our peers. We have not been raised with a reliance on God but have been conditioned that humanism is sufficient. The terms like honor, goodness, integrity, morality and character are antiquated and not understood. We are wandering and very lost. Nothing is simple in our lives.

We have seen the breakdown of the traditional family first hand, to the point we barely recognize what that family structure is or why it’s significant. We half-expect our parents’ self-destruction, failures and even successes to be repeated in us. We have barely a thought that God might have a good (or different) plan for us regardless of our heritage or role models.

Fidelity is a foreign word. We’ve seen parents show us it’s easier to leave than work things out. Our families are broken, displaced and patched together again, oftentimes resulting in too much experience of one parent homes. Many of us do not doubt our parent figures’ love of us but they are desperately wounded from their own struggles, let alone able to help us with ours. We live in the greying shadow of parents who have experienced divorce in their own childhood, troubled growing up years or abortions in their own wombs. Brokenness and conflict has leeched onto the spirits of our homes resulting in us serving as walking portraits of unseen and demoralized battlefields.

Many of us have grown up in homes that find us to be inconveniences or something to be controlled and scheduled. Our schools treat us as numbers and our communities and neighborhoods oftentimes find us a bundle of irresponsible attitude and therefore a “problem to be solved”.

In some situations, from childhood we are trained that busy is synonymous with a normal life. Our experiences include a whirlwind of sports, hobbies and experiences. When we grow old, silence and reflective stillness seem so irregular that we run from it every chance we get. We are individual islands, walking around at 90 mph in fashion that sends a message needing a psychology degree to decipher, eyes averted on our phones, ears plugged with the latest noise - all outward attempts to protect ourselves within.

We have little comprehension of time, generations or the fruitfulness of understanding history. We are raised among generations that don’t talk about their experiences, observations or reflections. We ‘kind of’ remember when abortion was a rarity, divorce a scandal and Playboy a naughty word. But our lives are void of those who take the regular moments to tell us stories and lessons learned, teach us the truths that need remembering, or to ask us questions and listen to discover our hidden potential.

We also are confused by the principle that sacrifice leads to reward. And we do not fully understand the military’s role in our lives.  The fact that freedom is not free, that evil must be fought and that defense must be a priority is lost on us.

We do not recognize perversion as it has become our reality. We find amusing the things God despises and therefore think nothing of compromising lifestyles. Lust, drinks and drug induced highs are euphoric moments that move us from our reality into something that seems more bearable and appealing. We’re taught to experiment with everything and everyone without limit, hardly looking toward the consequences.

We have watched old systems fail not only for ourselves but for our communities: marriages, peer groups, political parties, education institutions, and foster care, prison or government programs. Our trust is hesitant and temporary; our walls of defense are high; and unconditional faithfulness, while desired, is more-so not realistically expected.

Sadly, America’s young adults are not cultivated or equipped for Divine excellence but instead taught satisfaction with secular mediocrity. We are not entrusted with a vision or shown how to obtain our dreams. Success has been defined to us in terms of money, accomplishments, relationships and sex appeal. We are not around others who noticeably model Godly living standards, therefore how would we know they are worth obtaining?

Education is a social club, not an institution worth serious pursuit. Thoughts of content and substance aren’t necessary. We can use acronyms and “tweets” to communicate the messages we want to get across so why use the art of conversation? Technology is equivalent to oxygen. Our self-expression comes in many different forms. We are not taught to live with long term mindsets. Life for us is in the here and now. Patience is not a virtue. As a “microwave generation”, anything more than thirty seconds is too long. We are spoon fed philosophies by professors, while intentional critical thinking is not encouraged. 

We expect things to be given to us, relishing more in the life of careless beach babes than ambitious scholars or entrepreneurs; the idea of hard work seems an inconvenience; and there is no comprehension of running out, thanks to parents’ generosity, credit cards and the government’s enabling means.

Some of us have ideas but we don’t know where to start. And we are distracted by our obsession to live in others’ realities. Something is never enough, we always want more; our thirst is quenched by the purchase power; and government is already our default for provider and salvation. If we can get out of it we will; if we can’t, we’ll do the minimal to get by.

The commercials and talking heads tell us we are the answer: we can take over the world, solve issues of poverty and mass hunger, find homes for abused animals and make the planet sustainable. The challenge to “save the day” quickens our spirits for purpose but what we are not told is that their prediction rests on humanism, youth and idealism, dismissing the truth that efforts without God will leave the same tasks to the next generations that follow. And we will be left with the same emptiness as when we started.

Why don’t these bold voices mention that nothing but God will complete us? 

I am grieved at the fact that my generation cares more about those in another country than they do about those in their backyard. And I am ashamed at their unabashed attempt to demonize America. My peers are so painfully blinded by what’s not true that when an accurate account of history is put before them, it is blasphemed.

As a young and middle age adult, I am so very disappointed in our leaders whether in our churches, elected offices, universities, political parties or even families who oftentimes insult our intelligence and potential as young adults and lead us away from the truth. In our formative years, everything has been skewed and now as young adults we live within a twisted worldview, leaving us dangerously mis-led and out of balance.

My generation is reaping the consequences of the church’s faulty translations. And Americans of all age groups have overlooked the connection between God and morality and economic and cultural well-being. We - especially my generation - have detached the idea that beliefs, words and behavior have consequences. And, delightfully unaware, we suffer in the quake of moral absence.

The safest and most grounded place for us should be in the church. But, it oftentimes seems today’s church is gravely mis-led, as they do not exude the power and truth of the Gospel, but peddle a false idea of its comfort, ease and benefits. In the church, if we are there at all, we are encouraged to believe in God, but not to surrender to His Lordship or acknowledge our need for a Savior or rely on the God of Power. We are not presented with the truth that there is a Divine Destiny for our lives; that a Heroic and Loving God yearns for a relationship with us or the stability of law versus grace is necessary for true wholesome living.

And of grave concern is what the radical Muslim agenda is attempting to do to our country, how we have been infiltrated from within, and how their strategy continues a fast and subtle encroachment from every side. Sadly, I see the ignorance of my peers, oblivious to the presence of evil, denying that “anyone” would intentionally target and attempt to destroy our way of life and freedoms.

My generation is wandering, hurting, and even unconsciously feeling the repercussions of those missing from our generation (the 53 plus million aborted). We’ve been dumbed down, deceived and duped. We are medicated, wounded, manipulated, pre-defined, alone, distracted, broken, hopeless and lost. We need help.

Why doesn’t the older generation understand: the help we need does not include giving us life on a silver platter? We do not need more coffee shops and lattes or more incredible tools of technology. We do not need more “green” messages, catchy songs or twisted movies to attempt to solicit our attention and give us purpose and life. We don’t need parents for best friends; we need parents who establish guidelines riddled with mercy and forgiveness.

We do not need permission to surrender to our base humanity therefore eliminating all moral, respect and honorable boundaries under the mis-understood idea that we need ‘freedom to be ourselves.’ We do not need to be coerced into action, or coddled for fear of discomfort. We don’t need unfettered permission.

What do we need? We need truth. We need healthy families. We need righteous relationships. We need to observe and experience character, integrity and morality. We need boundaries, balance and consequences. We need help confronting our guilty hearts and assistance in unraveling the web of lies we’ve come to know as reality. We need someone to listen to us. We need someone to tell us we are beautiful and handsome and that our identity and worth must not be defined by the culture but by a Holy God.

We need help turning off the noise and learning to not be afraid of confronting our vulnerabilities with a Redeeming God. We need to feel safe and accepted. We need help “getting out” of our cultural, ancestral and peer groupthink. We need to know God rejoices in us not works against us.

We need healing, restoration and forgiveness. We need to know there’s nothing wrong with us! We need the relentless pursuit of unconditional love. We need silent support and public praise; we need to know our parents are proud of us and that we are not the ones who have messed up their lives. We need perspective. We need older people who will be resolved to invest in us. We need to be able to recognize goodness and see there is something more appealing than bequeathing life to our sinful nature. We need to know we’re not alone and that there is Someone worth living for.

Those with liberal agendas use bold and voracious attempts to claim our minds, hearts, spirits and souls. They might be winning the airwaves, our attention and the conversation but they are not winning our spirits. Deep down inside we know that something is still amiss.

Obviously not all of us fit into these depictions. But I think most of us have encountered more than one of these lies and wrestled with these battles of a sinful nature.

I fear we are in the day that Stalin hoped for: as a generation, our patriotism is waning, morality is lacking and spirituality is muddied. This status report applies to my generation but also to those preceding, let alone those who are watching and following us. I want my generation to cherish America and not dismiss it as an entitlement or a worthless cause. But most importantly, I want my generation to recognize what light is and come to the revelation that they are standing in deep darkness and, with the Help of a Savior, to then embrace their God-ordained destiny and purpose on this earth.  

In light of the despair I observe, the grief I feel and the agony for my generation I work to expose, I am resolved to rely on the God of Hope. And I know based on history, even with only a remnant, this nation can be restored. This can also be true about a generation.

With revelation of a Mighty God, and repentance towards His Principles, I am confident that America is not done, that we can do better, that my generation can become the second Greatest Generation. But the question of so many conservatives, including my own heart, remains: Where do we go from here? How do we reach the younger generation? And who will listen to those of us who “get it”?

There are a small few of us as millennials who want to serve as translators of three worlds: we appreciate the past, recognize the danger of the society we’re living in today and yearn to turn things around for tomorrow’s history books. We have one hand gripping on the truth of yesteryear, trying in the midst of this whirlwind of a culture to understand the truth of today, and with the energy that is left attempting to plant seeds for the future while hunkered down fighting for our lives. And sometimes it feels like we are losing.

If leaders took time to help us process all of the afore mentioned, understand our culture, determine how to translate the never changing absolute standards into language we understand, they might find the next American greats. The future George Washington Carvers, Ben Franklins, Harriet Tubmans, and Abigail Adams are diamonds in the rough waiting to be discovered.

Please help me awaken my generation so that Josef Stalin’s dream does not come true. I do not want the founding fathers' America to die. The agenda and marching orders of the 21st century's Stalins must not win. I do not want to lose more of my generation mentally, spiritually and physically. Please do not give up on us.

Too much blood has been spilled and sacrifice made for me not to do my part in fighting to save our freedoms and preserve this country.  So, with God’s help and examples of leadership like yours and many others, I will continue to stand my ground with resilience and not surrender my blessed and free America.

Gratefully, your fellow patriot, servant and friend,

Amy J. Hawkins

Michigan

Note: Please do not reproduce without permission. Thank you (amyjaynehawkins@gmail.com). 

Forbes: 7 Ways to Serve & Keep Millennial Customers

If you plan on having a successful business, organization or ministry that somehow caters to or reaches those born 1980 til now, you will have to change your approach. Inconvenient? Yes. Uncomfortable because it is different to everything you have been taught as a Baby Boomer, Generation Y or Greatest Generation member? Yes. But are these approaches vital for you to consider and adapt?

Forbes.com has a guest author that penned "7 Ways to Serve & Keep Millennial Customers."  It is definitely worth your read. He says:

"This new generation thinks differently about customer service, about how they want to be treated in business interactions.  It is a generation of consumers defined by the digital world that they’ve known since infancy...[They] have little understanding of the more earthbound systems and expectations that dominated the consumer landscape only a few years ago.

"...But the particulars of how customer service has been delivered for the last several decades are extremely baby boom specific. it’s time for businesses to change, and change fast."

The author highlights these 7 things to focus on:
1. Offload the transactional
2. Focus on the experiential.
3. Understand customer self-determination.
4. Become a speed-freak
5. Leave your customers time and space to breathe.
6. Consider values.
7. Speak their language.

If you want them to be in your customer population and you want your entity to succeed, you better take note. And make changes - fast. Millennials aren't going anywhere. And their children's generation will differ even more.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/07/25/7-ways-to-serve-and-keep-millennial-customers/

The Planned Lies: The Killer of My Generation

Back in 1916 was born a woman who would go on to embrace the ideology of the likes of Adolf Hitler: euthanize people who are less than desirable. Breed those who contribute towards a perfect human race.

She formed an organization. It grew into an industry. The woman and her cohorts placed these "helpful" centers in strategic places to best reach those they wanted to eliminate. They lied. They wore a mask as to who they really were and created a false and appealing identity.

The woman has long since passed. But not only did her actions have damaging effects then, they went on to have rippling effects that still perpetuate across our nation now. She has played a role in over thirty million murders.

No, I'm not making up this story. The horrifying part? It still exists. In fact, this multi-billion dollar industry has a center in your own town, targeting your own community. It is called Planned Parenthood.

George Grant, a Christian author, wrote a very short expose, Killer Angel, on Mrs. Sanger. A quote from him is as follows:

"...Stalin, Mussolini, or Hitler. Their barbarism, treachery, and debauchery will make their names forever live in infamy. Amazingly, though, Sanger has somehow escaped this wretched fate. In spite of the fact that her crimes against humanity were no less heinous than theirs, her place in history has effectively been sanitized and sanctified. In spite of the fact that she openly identified herself in one way or another with the intentions of the other three – Stalin's Sobornostic Collectivism, Hitler's Eugenic Racism, and Mussolini's Agathistic Fascism – Sanger's faithful minions have managed to manufacture an independent reputation for the perpetuation of her memory." (Quote from this article)

This evil business continues, and thrives, because the truth hasn't been told. Some believe that this industry provides necessary services. To many it seems the only option to get them out of a difficult predicament.

Planned Parenthood has become so deeply embedded in our culture that as a people we no longer identify it as a danger. Use these links to educate yourself. It is not pretty. And I'm tired of its history and purpose not being known.

Abort73.com: A brief review of Margaret Sanger.

Continue here: RTL's review of Planned Parenthood

Then go here: Planned Parenthood Agenda

Next: A Brief Bio on Margaret Sanger. (wikipedia)

Next: 10 Eye Opening Quotes from Margaret Sanger (via LifeNews)

Final: Planned Parenthoods in Michigan

Also Planned Parenthood in USA

Op Ed: It's Time to Tell Us No

We have forgotten about the transition of aging; the ending of childhood; and the potential of the hard work of youth.

As a Millennial, my charge is this: It is okay to say no. With good intention of our elders, we have been enabled, babied and spoiled. We do not need more stuff, more freedom or more allowance as a young person. The younger generation needs to learn that money does not grow on trees, the government is not nor should it be the “parent” of freedom, and liberty does not come without a price.

The aspects that have made America great still reside in each one of us. The God given inalienable rights to improve ourselves, to provide for our posterity, to be prudent with our dollar, and to experience the hard work of our hands, are available to the next generation. But unless we have a need to experience it, we will give in to our base humanity that is lazy, irresponsible and self-indulging. In other words, if you provide it, we’ll calibrate our lives so that your provision is sufficient and our labor is not necessary.

You can tell your teenager to turn off the video games and get a job; no, your son and his girlfriend cannot live in your basement; no, you will not sign a car loan for an unemployed daughter; no, you will not get your child a smart phone; no, you do not still need to do your post college child’s laundry. It is time you forced us and allowed us to transition.

Set yourself free as a generous and benevolent adult. With loving observation let the younger people fend for themselves. The taste of desperation and failure pushes one on to a pursuit for prosperity and success. With you by their side, at a healthy distance, the young people will succeed. They cannot fail. This nation is great. It has given us the system, tools and freedoms to succeed. It’s time we started to experience it. 

- ajh

Published at: http://amyjhawkins.blogspot.com/ 

(Writer's Note: If you are interested in using this piece in your newspaper, blog, website etc, please feel free to do so. Would you email me and let me know how you have used it? I hope it helps. Thank you! amyjaynehawkins@gmail.com)

Additional Article "The Millennials" http://amyjhawkins.blogspot.com/2012/06/millennials-official-piece-by-amy.html

Conservative Leaders Pay Attention to Messaging

The liberals are doing a fantastic job on messaging. There, I did it. I complimented the liberals.

Let's say little Jane gets a new puppy. The puppy is all over the place with its abundance of energy! Distracted, rambunctious, playful would be a few of the applicable descriptives to a dog this age. Well, Mom is calling from the doorway and it is time for Jane and puppy to go inside. It's easy for her to walk herself inside, but how does she convince the free-willed puppy to comply?

1. Stand and look at the puppy, talk about the puppy, complain about the puppy and bemoan the puppy because he's not following Mom's directions or

2. Should she talk to the puppy in a tone of voice he will respond to, present a reward that solicits a dog's attention, using dog format (whatever that looks like) then convince that puppy to follow?

In other words, will she be more successful complaining about why the puppy doesn't follow; or should she try communicating with a puppy in language he might understand?

I'm thinking her projection of frustration toward the puppy will have zilch impact on the puppy and the ability to accomplish the task Mom has asked her to do. But I'm thinking Jane using means of communication for puppy language might help her convey her point and accomplish her goal.

Hello Conservatives!! Republican Party! Ideology purists! I'm talking to you.

In this analogy, the GOP leaders are Jane and her mom. The Millennials, of which I consider myself a member, are the puppy. To the established, and non established GOP, I pose this question: why get frustrated at someone for something they are not doing when they do not understand what you are asking them to do?

You want the Millennials to understand why the 2012 Election was so important, why 2014 victories are imperative, why public policy decisions are detrimental or why a moral decision can have implications. But the questions should address: Are you using the wrong language, in an old paradigm, promising rewards or consequences that do not matter to your audience and attempting to move them towards a goal they do not understand?

You can keep trying to reach us by making the GOP outreach more "diversified", attempting more "cool" meetups and networking opportunities, or promise to give us internships, jobs after college or create the newest "app" for our smart phones.

But deep down inside we are looking for you  to speak to what is in the core of our being. We are like any other constituent base in America: we care about people, causes and money. The longer you deflect your frustration on that which you want to activate, and continue to use ill-placed messages with unclear goals, you simply prove to the young adults that the left, liberals, Democrats, progressives really do have the upper hand.

Hurry Republican party and conservatives of all breeds! Think outside the box. You have the right principles. Just hurry and frame things in a way Millennials can understand!

Jane can hear the thunder in the distance; if she does not get creative quick, she and puppy will get stuck in the storm. And the responsibility of how they will experience the storm does not rest on the unknowing puppy. The full weight of reaction and action rests on Jane. The puppy's safety is dependent on Jane. And we as Millennials are dependent on you.

I was Viewer #2: Report on Millennial Meetup in DC

I just "randomly" came across this story on youtube (see below) and shockingly only one other person had viewed it upon my discovery.

Bloomberg had a report today of Millennials who are coming to the table in Washington DC to talk about the economy. Congressman Aaron Schock helped lead the discussion. It wasn't a lively discussion but a discussion is better than nothing.

Props to the Republican Party for attempting to reach out to young adults! This is also a very good thing!

And hats off to the younger people for attempting to build a movement. And thank God for young leaders like the Congressman who are an easy advocate.

Look into the eyes of your 2 year old child, your 13 year old cousin or ponder the unborn niece and consider: as Millennials, our inactivity only creates an even bigger monster to pass on to the next generations to follow.

Technology according to Liberals

They came to him. 

He was an expert in technology. Obama's team knew they needed to up their game. So instead of building a vision, hiring people who will build it to your own expectations, they found someone who excelled in the arena they needed to master and let him work his magic to break the glass ceiling and expand their vision beyond their wildest dreams. Aka President Obama for term 2.

Disclaimer: There is an uncouth word, sprinkled through-out.

Harper Reed from Technori on Vimeo.

Op Ed: Millennials & the Conservative Narrative

Consider this an open letter to Republican and Conservative leaders alike.

Why are you surprised the Millennial Generation is not responding to you?

Why are you surprised that they are not concerned about our nation and its eroding brand of freedom? Have you ever wondered what our perception is of the conservative movement? Or have you wondered whether we truly understand the narrative? Have you considered that we are foreign students in a nation you know so well and love? You are frustrated that we will not come to your rallies, your monthly meetings, your pizza parties, or your door walking days. But my question to you is what are you asking us to come to?

With that question, I do not mean what room, what building, or what town. But I mean ideology. What is your narrative? What is a Republican? What is conservative? What is your cause, your goal, the reason for your engagement?

The Millennial Generation (early 20’s to early 30’s) and now younger, need you and need your message. But until you define that for which you want us to engage, in lingo we understand, make it appealing to our senses and emotions and use things we care about to make the case that your path is better than the one we follow – do not expect us to come.

If you were in our shoes, would you want to follow? I didn’t think so. So, don’t expect the same of us. Ask yourself “What is the thing that I’m calling them to? How does my cause stand for more worthy purposes than the opposition? How do I explain the principles and their impact on things the Millennials care about?”

If you do not figure out how to do it quick, who knows what will happen in our nation’s future. Please stop looking to us to get engaged or blaming tomorrow’s potential demise on our dismissal of what’s important. Instead, please start by telling us your story, listening to us at times without saying a word, and
sharing the vision for what we can become as individuals, a generation and a nation.

Until you start doing the necessary things, we’re not coming. Quit looking to us. We’re looking to you.

- ajh

Writer's Note: If you are interested in using this piece in your newspaper, blog, website etc, please feel free to do so. Would you email me and let me know how you have used it? I hope it helps. Thank you! amyjaynehawkins@gmail.com)

A Woman Left to Die. Our President Supported Those Like Her.

Hear this woman's short and powerful story. Then understand President Obama's alignment with this issue. If you only get your young adults attention for 1 minute regarding the election, and they care about life, have them watch this. It just might wake them up.

Voices Without a Vote - Young People Speak Up

This video is almost too good to be true! Patriot, conservative, freedom loving young people with a cry to action.

These young people are too young to vote and use their choice at the ballot box but here is what they are saying to you. They are pleading with you to be their voice at the voting booth. Share on your page!