We have an impending sense of cascading crises ahead. Inflation, demographics, technology advances, debt structures, collapsing trust in nearly every institution, corruption, fatherlessness, motherlessness, decreasing mental health and education levels, addictions, wars, geopolitical tensions boiling over, demographic decline, and social pathologies. We (collectively) have made many decisions which created this set of wicked problems where every solution is still bad. What does this mean for our generation and the next, and what shall we do?
Based on trendlines, I expect 2026-27 will be the crunchier years. There is unease, and more coming.
I don’t see the end, but I can see a challenging path ahead. This will be like the Lemon Squeezer on the Appalachian trail or Fat Man’s Misery in Mammoth Cave. You contort your way through it, humbling yourself rather than striding tall. There is beauty and richness on the other side. No way around, must go through. Excess baggage cannot be accommodated.
Biologists and sociologists agree that enduring societies (animals or human) require cooperation, cohesiveness, and altruism. The fragmentation and angst we experience today are because these are in short supply. They aren’t default or natural states. They require submission, sacrifice, selflessness – the antithesis of our internal, untrained norm. They require deep modeling because they are only learned by example.
“A world is supported by four things: the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous, and the valor of the brave. But all these are as nothing without a ruler who know the art of ruling.” (from Dune by Frank Herbert) We’re short on wisdom, justice, prayers, valor, and leadership, too. These are intentional, formative outcomes.
What will you and I model today? What example will we set in the coming weeks and months? What will we lay down, and pick up?
The deep solution: We need to be mature adults. We need to foster more mature adults.
Being a mature adult comes from doing. Let me unpack more of my thinking and recommendations. Candor: I will have to work very hard to do this consistently well. Two days out of seven will not suffice.
These problems are bound up in interlocking systems, with feedback loops and cross-interactions. Improving any system requires toughness in two ways. First, there must be agreement on what to optimize. (You can’t optimize for everything simultaneously; you pick one and then a distant second.) Second, there must be willingness to endure some pain because all systems get worse before they get better. This challenges our selfishness and preferred narratives. Perseverance must not be in short supply.
Despair and resignation are not the answer. Neither posture is worthy of human potential, and certainly inconsistent with our design role as God’s stewards on Earth. Why let your enemies rejoice in your passivity? We must be optimistic people of hope, believing there are reasons to go forward, confident of a larger story at work even if we don’t understand it.
“Trusting in princes” is in part how we got here. We need better leaders, and we can’t abdicate our responsibilities to them. When called to lead, lead as an Under Shepherd. When called to select leaders, select based on character as well as competence. When called to follow, follow well and faithfully.
We must not act from anger. Anger is a gift from God, the hard to ignore emotion which points to a gap between what is and what should be. But anger allowed to morph into ‘energizing rage’ is fuel for evil, not goodness, for destruction, not building and redeeming.
I emphasize adult maturity because pandering to the least mature among us has exacerbated every problem we face. Two examples:
There have been too many squabbles about “words are violence,” and “microaggressions triggering me.” I wish every young person hears hard things said in love, and a stream of insults and thoughtless opinions. That’s how one learns to distinguish useful truth from “sound and fury, signifying nothing.” That’s a path to healthy self-management with appropriately thick skin still sensitive to others.
Immature people want to win the ‘biggest victim’ title, and wallow in entitlement. We should instead be rewarding hard work, effort in the right direction, pressing ahead despite obstacles. Knocked down a few times? Get back up more. Some people were born with advantages and had good families, and many weren’t. There have always been inequalities and differences, and expecting some system where everyone is guaranteed equal outcomes is the height of immaturity. Demanding that version of ‘fair’ will require a different universe. We must not let cowards rule the world, nor bullies.
“But Glenn, there are people who desperately need help,” you say. Yes. There is always enough for the bottom 10%. Many of these people need extra help only for a season, and some longer. There is never enough for the bottom half to be fully dependent on others, avoiding growing up and taking responsibility for themselves. Caring and supporting the weakest among us is ministry which builds up. Accommodating immaturity, however ‘kind’ it may appear, is counterproductive to healthy organizations at every level.
Maturity is about behaving in ways that foster integrity – of self, of families, of communities, organizations, and nations. Immature behaviors fuel dis-integration. “You shall know them by their fruits.”
Embrace effective policies and technology helps while surrendering your fantasies about quick fixes. The only way our economic, social, technological and political solutions work is to be accompanied by deep and mature people.
Love people, not just the idea of people. Love individuals in all their messiness. Make many friends. Seek mentors and be a mentor. Cheer on your peers and fellow travelers. Maximize in-person, real-time conversations, and be wary of screen-and-ai-mediated ‘friends.’ Resist the seductive power of celebrities and digital avatars to grab your heart.
Practice gratitude, celebration, and joy. We get more of what we celebrate – so recognize even the smallest of victories and moments of goodness. Are we breathing? Our work is not done. Remind yourself often that God is doing 10,000 things at once even if we’re aware of only three of them. He keeps his promises, and will turn everything meant for evil into good.
Practice kindness, forgiveness, redemption, and justice-with-mercy. Collectivist, statist ideologies cannot bear these things. Liberty-loving people need them. Convert enemies to friends where you can. Imitate good, not evil.
Seek wisdom. Talk with older and experienced people. Read old books, especially pre-Gutenberg books. Study history to be “wise as serpents” – not be a better serpent, but to be aware of the schemes and patterns of evil. Faramir in The Lord of the Rings is a good model – an honest and brave man, who because he did not lie was able to easily discern the deceits in others. Observe evil without absorbing it. Be wary of your entertainment lest it mortify your wisdom.
Live in the creative tension between individuality and togetherness. Both and, not either or. The easiest way to defeat an enemy is to create or foster divisions which sap their collective strength. A consistent law of power is to avoid galvanizing and unifying your enemies against you. Nothing amplifies divisions like unchecked egos. Unity requires laying down the primacy of egos in favor of desirable outcome for a larger group. Yet the larger group must support individual flourishing. Use these truths to filter news, campaign information, and propaganda (but I repeat myself) shoved into your eyes and ears.
Don’t tolerate or celebrate lies. I encourage everyone to read How Do You Kill 11 Million People?: Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think by Andy Andrews. Imagine how different the world would be if a critical mass of mature adults were systematic truth-tellers. And — this is crucial – we must stop lying to ourselves.
Pain and suffering are real, but they’re temporary. They will not define us if we allow them to do their work maturing us.
Be both safe and adventurous. We are the beneficiaries of centuries of risk-takers who went before us. Our descendants need us to take risks, too.
Living this way has a cost. Leading yourself and others correctly and wisely inevitably triggers a kind of resistance. Be not surprised when some will sabotage and undermine you. Generally, people prefer to be at least slightly more successful or better than others in a group. Perhaps they do this out of jealousy or contempt. Perhaps they hate what they cannot have. They act like an infecting microbe. The immune system of a healthy adult takes about 10% of his metabolic baseline energy; there is a constant war against invaders. This reality of leadership is disturbing, and expensive. Weak leadership is far more costly.
This is a long, perhaps idealistic list. I’m convinced we need to stride towards these things. We’ll stumble and pick ourselves up again. In the last year I’d probably score about 30% against these ideals in my best days. I can and must do better. My objective is to encourage you. The word means “put courage into you.” You’re stronger than you think, and you’re not alone.
