THE PETER PAN SYNDROME

“There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless  

their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes,

and yet is not washed from their filthiness.  There is a generation, 

O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a 

generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as 

knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from

among men.”

—Prov. 11:14-30

“And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule

over them. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another,

and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself 

proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable  . . .  

As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule 

over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err,

and destroy the way of thy paths.”

—Isa. 3:4, 5, 12 

Children used to evidence entry into adulthood at a much younger age than many of them do now. The term "teenager" was a word missing from American vocabulary until the 1940s. Prior to this, people were considered to be either infants, adolescents or adults. Adolescents were considered to be adults-in-the-making, and many of them thought of themselves as adults in the making; learning to think responsibly and accept responsibilities generally associated with adulthood.

Too many people now in their twenties, thirties and older appear to share the resolve of Peter Pan who whose mantra was, “I don’t wanna grow up!” They are clueless to the fact that they ought to have already grown up, and that there’s something really unnatural and dangerous going on wherever people their age think and act like children.; where people their age don’t know how to be ashamed, or what they ought to be ashamed of (Jer. 6:15).

Perhaps and probably, over 50 years of dumbing down by public education, especially in the area of history, accounts more than anything else for the decades-long pandemic of Peter Pan Syndrome that’s been allowed to go on in America. We spend more on education ($17,000 per pupil, K thru college) than almost all other countries in the world, but we rank 36th in literacy. Today, 14% of our adults can't read at all, 21% of them read below a 5th-grade level, and 19% of high school graduates can't read. A corrupt government and worse than useless teachers’ unions can be thanked for this.

Leadership and major accomplishments in America, during at least the first half of our history, were provided by people still in, or barely out of, their teens; mostly by those well under 40. Those who settled this country, won our independence as a nation, framed our system of government and built this country, with few exceptions, fit into this age category. These are those who did the "heavy lifting," and in short order, made ours the greatest country in the world

Frontiersmen like Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson, and others became famous while in their teens and twenties. Later, men like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, hunted buffalo, led settlers westward, fought Indians and brought law and order to untamed towns before they were thirty years old. One example: at age eleven, William “Buffalo Bill” Cody was the sole supporter of his family, and was a valued rider for the Pony Express when he was fourteen. He joined the Union army when he was 17, and before he turned eighteen he had distinguished himself in some of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. At age 26 he was awarded the Medal of Honor for service during the Indian Wars.

George Armstrong Custer is another example. At age 23 he became the youngest man ever to attain the rank of Brigadier general. He led Union troops in several major battles during the Civil War, was decorated numerous times for valor, and was a nationally known and celebrated author before, at the age of only 36, he was killed at the Battle of the Little Big horn during the Sioux Indian wars. Most of the heroes, on both sides during the Civil War, were still in their teens and twenties.

Thousands of men well under eighteen lied about their age in order to join the military during wartime. Those who stormed the shores of Normandy were almost all under the age of twenty five. Audie Murphy is an example of the character that used to predominate in American youth. His father abandoned the family, and he quit school in the fifth grade to pick cotton for a dollar a day to help his family. His mother died when he was 16 and he supported his three younger siblings until the county placed them in an orphanage. He joined the army during WWII at age seventeen, when nineteen he was awarded the Medal of Honor, and by age twenty-one he had become the most decorated soldier in American history.

People like John Hancock, Ben Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and J. C. Penny were founding and running companies, and serving as statesmen and/or inventing in their twenties. Our most famous authors, songwriters and playwrights were making their mark in their twenties. Those considered “college age” today founded and led Christian institutions and evangelist movements. (Although he wasn’t an American, George Whitfield (an Englishman) spearheaded the Great Awakening in America when he was nineteen.

Throughout most of our history, young people have played a major role in the progress and protection of our nation. Thank God for courageous, productive, risk-taking, servant-hearted, Christ-honoring, masculine young men today. And shame on those who think masculinity is “toxic.” It isn’t. It’s terrific!

"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong."

—1 Cor. 16:13