A Helpless Society!
Why have we become a “helpless society?”
What I mean is that just a generation back and no more than two generations at best we were doing things daily that the majority of people do not know how to do anymore!
I pulled over once to help a young man with a flat tire. I just thought he most likely didn’t have jack or found out that his spare was flat.
What I learned was that he was clueless on how to change his tire! I gave him a class and let him do all the work while I supervised. That was the longest tire replacement I have ever experienced!
Why did that young man not know how to change his own tire?
The generation before him did not pass on the knowledge!
Tammy and I were riding one day and we went past a woman sitting on her motorcycle and before I could turn around we came across her husband on another motorcycle slowly heading back towards her while looking on the shoulder of the road for something.
I turned around, flipped on the hazard warning flashers, and followed him back to his wife.
Tammy and I greeted them and then he explained that her shifter had fallen off and her bike was stuck in second gear.
He was distraught that he was going to have to call for someone to come tow her bike back home.
I smiled as I explained that I had a spare shifter lever in my saddle bag.
This is not the first shifter to rattle and fall off a Harley.
The look on their face was priceless when I pulled the lever from my saddle bag.
The look on my face was priceless when I noticed that she still had a shifting lever on her bike!
I pointed to the lever and said, “You don’t need a lever, you got one right there.”
Then her AND her husband explained that the one on her bike was for downshifting only. She needed her upshifting lever.
I tried not to laugh! When I did, they both looked at me like I was the crazy one. Then the man asked, “Is that one,” pointing to the one in my hand, “for downshifting also?”
I shook my head in disbelief at his question and explained that she could use that ONE lever for both upshifting and downshifting.
He was looking at me like I had a third eye in my forehead when I slowly pointed at the shifter on my Harley.
I never have liked the heel/toe configuration so the first thing I did when I bought my bike was remove the “upshifting” lever. LOL
I sat on my bike and demonstrated how it worked.
Once I noticed that the lights came on, I dismounted my bike and adjusted her “downshifting” lever so she could place her foot under it for upshifting.
On the way home all I could think was they would have spent hundreds of dollars on getting their bike back home. (It was a a very long distance) And all because they did not have the slightest idea on how the shifter worked.
I stopped one time to help a guy that didn’t know where his battery was and was going to call for roadside assistance because his bike wouldn’t start! (It was a loose battery connection!)
These stories could on and on but my point is that we have become a helpless society!
Yesterday I talked about waiting on the gas company to come turn on our gas.
The gas company representative was going to call a local plumber to come bleed our gas and re-light the pilots for us.
I shook my head, “No, I’ve got that.”
He looked surprised, “Are you sure sir?”
I answered a couple questions he had about my appliances and I volunteered how I was going to do what needed to be done.
He nodded with approval and turned on the gas for us.
Fifty years ago EVERYONE that had gas appliance KNEW how to re-light their pilots and bleed gas from the lines, etc.
In the 60’s and 70’s, owners manuals explained how to adjust the valves on your car.
Today’s generation doesn’t know what a valve is.
We have become a helpless society!
Why?
Because the generations before us have not taught or passed on that knowledge!
This is with everything!
The sad thing is that it also is with teaching our children to follow Jesus.
If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, the world will teach them not to.
That is why the word tells us to teach them!
Proverbs 22:6 KJV Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
I had a man tell me just a couple days ago, “ I gave my children a choice to accept Jesus on their own.” He went on to explain that he didn’t push Jesus on his children and in fact he didn’t attend church while his children were growing up!
When should you teach your children?
On Sunday’s while at church?
No, we should be teaching them always!
Deuteronomy 6:5-9 KJV (5) And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (6) And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: (7) And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (8) And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. (9) And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
It is a daily and an all-day long process, amen?
Don’t let your children become part of the helpless society!
Teach them today!
Refuse to contribute to the helpless society movement and teach, teach, teach!
Have a blessed day!
Comments
Amen