THE FUTURE OUTLOOK
J. F. JOHNSON Editor & Publisher
MISS EMMA P. JOHNSON News Reporter
L. A. WISE Staff Photographer
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Irresponsible Youth
(continued)
By KENNETH A. FREE
Director, Windsor Community Center
In response to the editorial in last weeks Future Out
look, "Irresponsible Youth," by Miss Beatrice Herbin, I
would like to indicate the part Recreation at Windsor
Center is playing in eliminating this problem.
If you drive through South Gate Shopping Center
Monday through Saturday, between the hours of 9 :00 a.m.
and 10 :00 p.m., you will find that the area is free of teen
agers because the Center's attendance report shows that
they are here, during our open hours. I feel that if the
Recreation Centers were open twenty-four hours, the
youngsters would be here twenty-four hours. But since
they aren't, I have to agree with Miss Herbin in asking
the question : "Who is responsible for these kids after 10
p.m., when the Center is closed?"
It seems to me that if two or three staff members
at a recreation center can control hundreds of these youth
and make them feel a part of something wholesome, par
ents should be able to control and provide family pro
jects for their child, or two, three and four children. Why
do youth prefer to be out of their homes sixteen hours
and in just about eight, merely to eat and sleep? You can
answer this question when you think of the hours spent
at home by their parents. Fathers are away working two
or three jobs, mothers are on one or two jobs, and their
children see so little of them that they are unaware of
the importance of parents. To them, parents are merely
providers whose business is to pay the bills, feed, clothe
them and keep a roof over their heads.
It's true, the cost of living is such that parents often
find the necessity of. doing extra jobs, but at the same
time, is the neglect of unguided children and youth worth
the price? Whose responsibility is it to offer direction and
gwdance to them? While the Recreation Centers offer
direction of enrichment, the schools and churches in our
city, true charity begins in the home. The Bible says : "He
that causes these little ones to go astray, 'tis better that
a milestone be wrapped about his neck and he be cast in
to the bottomless pit of the sea." The influences that tend
to cause children to grow branch from the training of a
child in the way he should go. And don't forget, that old
fashioned activity with the hair brush or a switch still has
its place in a worthy society. Children learn to appreciate
correction. Even here at the center, often 18 year olds
will do something wrong just to get attention. And when
they are reprimanded, they beg not to be expelled from
the Center. Yet, they go on to do something else for which
they are scolded. They want to belong to something, and
when there is nothing better offered, they congregate
with their friends and belong to their gangs. Basically,
youth have good potentials, but they need guidance and
proper direction if they are to grow into worthy citizens.
The parents can do this better than anyone I know.
I would go further to say that the bonds of unity in
the home should be strengthened. Parents must take time
out to be with their sons and daughters, do activities to
gether:, worship, play, picnic and pray together. Invite
their friends to their homes and make them proud to be
your children. If there is order in the home, there will be
order in the streets, on the playgrounds, in the schools
and respect for public businesses and places will be an
integral part of their growth. They too, will learn to re
spect themselves arid their freinds.
"These are, indeed, the times that try men's souls" ?
and children's too. In these perilous times, they need more
love and guidance than ever before. I wonder if the chil
dren and youth today are different, or is it the parents?
INTERVIEWS: SOUTH GATE SHOPPING CENTER
By Beatripe Herbin
How the managers and personnel in the South Gate
Shopping Center feel about the youth gatherings at night,
in the center, echo much of what Mr. Free has said in the
foregoing article. They feel that parents hold the respon
sibility of the activities of their youngsters, to a large
extent. They too, agree, that much of the old-fashioned
type of discipline is just as good today as it were in their
day. To those who have reached adulthood and some de
T his Weed's Sunday School Lesson
10. THE LORDSHIP
OF THE CREATOR
WHAT IS OUR CONCERN?
A few years ago a rather hu
morous book appeared: Who's in
Charge Here? by Gerald Gard
ner. It is a collection of interna
tional news pictures with funny
captions under each. I have no
idea whether or not the
author seriously believes no one
really is in charge of things, but
his book bears profound witness
to the fact that sometimes life
does seem to be a comedy of
errors.
Who do you say is "in charge"
here? If you wish to see your
own attitudes more clearly, ask
yourself a question. Have you
ever said, "He was down on his
luck" or "That's just the way of
fate" or "Just have faith and
things will be all right"?
When we ask ourselves this
question, we may be surprised
to discover who our real gods
are. We would not think of burn
ing incense to Marduk, the god
of Babylon. However, we fre
quently do our duty to the gods
of the modern world ? including
fate, luck, chance, or progress.
One problem is that it is no
more virtuous to embrace new
ways uncritically, calling them
fate or progress, than it is to
kick and struggle against all
attempts to move us out of the
past. Whether our gods be those
that command us to freeze so
ciety in a pre-Coolidge mold or
those that urge us to cast off the
past simply because it is the
past, the cost of the incense is
always the same:'
But God has called us to show
the world what it means to
trust in him. This lesson, then,
is concerned with what it means
to be people who proclaim to
the world that "God is in charge
here."
BEFORE YOU READ
THE SCRIPTURE
By the middle of the sixth
century B.C. the Babylonian
empire was in trouble. The
combined forces of Medes and
Persians proved too much for
Babylon. By 539 B.C. Babylon
had fallen to Cyrus and his
Persian forces.
Cyrus left behind him a series
of inscriptions that reveal the
religious overtones he added to
his campaigns. He insisted that
Marduk, the king of the Baby
lonian gods, had searched
throughout the lands for a prince
he could lead in victory over all
the peoples of the Mediterranean
world, including Marduk's own
people, the Babylonians. His
gaze fell upon Cyrus, and side
by side he marched with him,
giving him victory over all he
encountered. Marduk gave his
own city into Cyrus' hand.
There was no struggle, and the
people applauded as Cyrus en
tered.
Under Marduk's influence Cy
rus then rebuilt the ruined areas
of the empire, and he permitted
the captives in Babylon to re
turn home.
We can easily understand how
Cyrus' propaganda might prove
convincing to the captives in
Babylon. People in the ancient
world generally assumed that
the defeat of one nation by an
other indicated the weakness of
the defeated nation's god. At
this point, however, Cyrus added
a delicate stroke of genius. He
declared that the defeat of
Babylon was not a sign of the
defeat of Marduk but a sign
that Marduk had chosen a new
king for his people.
Among the captives in Baby
lon were the Israelites. How
were they to view Cyrus' ar
rival? Was it proof that Yahweh,
the God of Israel, was indeed
dead or defeated? Many persons
had suspected this, no doubt,
when Judah fell to Babylon in
586 B.C.; and now Cyrus had
come proclaiming Marduk's
ability to cast off his own king
and to make a foreigner the
ruler of his people. Was Israel's
impending release thi work of
Marduk?
In the midst of this situation
a prophet of Israel arose. We
know very little about him, not
even his name. We call this
prophet Second Isaiah because
his message is found in Chap
ters 40 through 55 of the Book
of Isaiah. (Some fragments of
it may be included also in Isaiah
56 through 66.) Israel's exile,
he said, was a suffering that
God would use to draw all na
tions to himself in love and
obedience. Cyrus had himself
been raised up to serve as Yah
weh's chosen instrument in ef
fecting Israel's release, now
that the appointed time of ser
vice was at an end.
Whether the inscriptions we
have from Cyrus were written
before Second Isaiah's prophe
cies is difficult to answer. In
gree of success, it is obvious the whippings and tongue
lashings did not hurt too long, but they left their imprints
on their characters. The whelps are gone but the memory
lingers still, and these memories have helped them to be
come worthy men and women, in society.
Fights are reported in the South Gate ; destroying of
commodity ? gardening products which one of the stores
had stacked outside its window. To some extent, fear
assails many of the workers who must leave their busi
nesses late at night. We hope these fears are unfounded,
but caution should be taken to disperse these crowds so
that there will be no need for fear.
The liquor store reports little trouble except having
to turn down quite a few youth who try to purchase in
toxicating beverages. On last Monday, it was said, the
Center was so covered with debris that it looked like a
hurricane had been through. Even the restaurant owner
is displeased with the hanging around of gangs. This busi
ness caters to hungry comers at late hours and should not
be jeopardized because of recent activities by the youth.
However, the manager is in accord with others that some
thing must be done to eleviate this problem. Copies of the
article have been circulated to all the chains and the citi
zens in this neighborhood and throughout are concerned
about this, as are our law enforcement officers.
Parents, take a little of your precious time, and save
a youth.
any case the similarities are so
striking that Second Isaiah must
have been writing a kind of
propaganda, refuting Cyrus'
claim. He was saying, "Marduk
is not your deliverer; Yahweh
is."
WHAT THE
SCRIPTURE SAYS
The Scripture for today is
Isaiah 45. Selected verses are
printed below. See Home Bible
Study suggestions in the back
of the quarterly.
Isaiah 45:1-6, 18, 22-23
1 Thus says the Lord to his
anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have
grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and ungird the loins Of
Irtnggj
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2 "I will go before you
and level the mountains,
I will break in pieces the
doors of bronze
and cut asunder the bars of
iron,
3 I will give you the treasures
of darkness
and the hoards in secret
places,
that you may know that it Is
I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, who call
you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant
Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I surname you, though you
do not know me.
5 I am the Lord, and there Is
no other,
besides me there is no God;
I gird you, though you do
not know me,
6 that men may know, from
the rising of the sun
and from the west, that
there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is
no other."
18 For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he la God!),
who formed the earth and
made it
(he established it;
he did not create it a chaos,
he formed it to be inhabi
ted!):
"I am the Lord, and there is
no other.
22 "Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there la
no other.
23 By myself I have sworn,
from my mouth has gone
forth in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
'To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear"."
Memory Selection:
Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is
no other. ? Isaiah 46:22
HOW WE UNDERSTAND
THE SCRIPTURE
The prophet declared that
Yahweh chose Cyrus as his in
strument to upset the power
structure of the Mediterranean
world. The cities would fall to
fore him, and their public
treasures would be at his dis
posal. When this happened, Cy
rus should recognize the real
source of his triumph.
(Con timed en Pa a* S) J