For years, socially-conservative types have identified (correctly) that the progressive engine is fueled on victimhood; that the entire identity-politics machine operates on the assumption that a state of being “marginalized” automatically deputizes individuals to do and demand whatever they want — all in the name of “justice,” of course. Their trauma is so great, in fact, that we cannot possibly hold them accountable for any supposed transgressions. After all, they are only trying to claw their way back to the surface, and things like “expectations,” “responsibilities,” and “consequences” will only further discourage them.
What conservatives have been willfully blind to, however, is that the impulse to blame others isn’t just a “woke” problem. Remember Eve: “It was the serpent’s fault”; Adam: “It was the woman’s fault”; Cain: “It was Able’s fault”; and Aaron: “It was the people’s fault.” Don’t get me wrong — I am not glazing over the pervasive damage that progressive ideology in particular has wrought on Western nations. Such damage has been incalculable and must be acknowledged. What I am saying is that the extent of damage has created the conditions in which one rapidly loses the ability to recognize one’s own sins.
See, the thing with being blind . . . and stay with me here . . . is that you can’t see. This explains why, when attempts are made to call out certain uncannily familiar symptoms of victimhood in the conservative camp, the response, naturally, is to accuse the messenger of being possessed (John 7:20). After all, we’re the good guys — we don’t resort to those kinds of tactics. But the thing is, we do. The knee-jerk response to locate the nexus of evil in some outside collective — “It’s the boomers” “It’s the Liberals” “It’s the government” “It’s the Jews” “It’s the immigrants” “It’s the feminists” — is doing it.
Victim narratives do not empower. They imprison. When young men are repeatedly told their problems are other people’s fault, we lie to them. Yes, there are challenges facing our generation. But challenges, and much bigger ones, also faced our fathers and grandfathers. Personally, I prefer my chances against high taxes and immigration over dying at thirty from the black lung or facing Viet Cong guerilla troops somewhere in the Iron Triangle.
Narrative that lull men into thinking the current cultural conditions exempt them from taking ownership of their sins, households, and vocations needs to die, and it needs to die yesterday. As such narratives take on a disturbing degree of legitimacy, and as my son approaches the cusp of his own garden to work, and his own thorns to fight, I felt a duty to encourage and warn him. To encourage him with the reminder that hard work is the proper domain of young men and he shouldn’t be discouraged when he finds it hard. And to warn him — principally against himself.
Although I wrote this to my son, it was suggested there might be broader application, so I have included it below:
“It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.” Lamentations 3:27
“Son, we need to talk about yokes. No, not the kind you find in an egg. I’m talking about the wooden beam fixed over the necks of a pair of oxen, and from there attached to a heavy plow. Because of Adam’s sin, and mine, and yours, the ground is cursed. The harvest is buried in futility and the only way to get it out is through toil. Is through plowing. Often in what seems like concrete-hard soil. As a young man, as a middle-aged man, as an old man, this is your calling. To shoulder that yoke, in whatever form it takes.
Fighting against you, as you take up this hard but good work, are three stubborn enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. The world will tell you lies. That yokes are bad things. That you deserve better. That you’re being treated unfairly. That other people are the problem. That the system is the problem. That you’re a victim.
Hear the Word of the Lord — It’s good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
The flesh will tell you lies. That there are shortcuts to a harvest other than hard work. That your failures are someone else’s fault. That sin brings happiness. That things were better in Egypt. That Christ isn’t actually worth the loss of all things.
Hear the word of the Lord — It’s good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
The devil will tell you lies. Because he hates when young men bear their yokes faithfully. Because he knows that’s how the darkness is kept at bay. Son, he would love to see you snared in toys, in lusts and pleasures, in worthless pursuits, that will steal your strength.
Hear the word of the Lord — It’s good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.
All of this is true. But it’s not the whole story. Because remember — a yoke is made for two. Jesus Christ walks beside and in front of you. And when you’re weary and burdened. And when, despite all your best efforts, there is no harvest, go to him and find rest for your soul. He has shed his own blood for you. And he will never leave nor forsake you.
What this means is that you can plow in hope. And in faith. And yes, even in joy. Hudson, my hope for you and your future isn’t that you are strong enough, but that Christ is. Remember that in him all your labour, all your toil, all the yokes — even if no one sees you bearing them — are not in vain.
Trust him and he will make your paths straight.”