We need to step aside

The remarkable high school students we've heard this week, from Florida and around the country (some wonderful teen voices from Connecticut among them) makes me think that perhaps we should step aside and let them tell us what to do.

It's their world to live into, after all. Maybe the voting age should be 18-30!

When I retired from full-time ministry, I decided I shouldn't  have a say in how the Diocese of Connecticut was run. I stepped back from Diocesan involvement and though I still go to our annual convention, I never get near a microphone. When I was still active I always sat near one!

The late Bishop Arthur Walmsley didn't think retired bishops should have a vote in the House of Bishops. The second most angry I ever saw him was at the General Convention in Columbus, Ohio when the bishops voted to continue to let retired bishops vote. He vented at me over coffee and I got his point--people live so much longer now that the retired bishops had almost as much power as those who were still active. He didn't think that was right. And I agree.

Maybe everyone on social security shouldn't have a vote in our country--since it won't be our country for much longer....

(The most angry I ever saw Arthur was with me. We yelled at each other in his office for 45 minutes until I got up, went to the door, put my hand on the knob and made my final argument. Looking back, I thought I saw a whisper of a smile as I was yelling my last. I then opened his closet and walked inside.

It was an awkward minute or so before I said, "Arthur, I'm coming out of the closet."

And he replied, "don't add THAT to all this!"

We ended the meeting laughing.)

We need to listen to the young and take our cues from them. It's going to be their country eventually, they should have a say in it now.

(At least a dozen companies--car rental groups, hotels, credit cards, etc. have broken their connection to the NRA in the last few days. Those companies know who is going to pay them in the future--they are listening to the young. We should too.)