So Responsible

Being the fifth Sunday this month, we had combined meetings today. They had a special topic for all the sisters in the ward, Young Women and Relief Society. The Teachers, Priests, and their leaders taught Primary while the sisters all went to their special meeting. The Elders and High Priests also met together.

I was in the back of the Primary room just kind of watching for any situations that might need a little help during closing exercises. Robby, one of my previous scouts who is almost 16 turned around a couple times to point out how loud my son was. I had been out of the room for a few minutes and never saw him being out of control, but supposedly he was while I was gone. Robby told me that they were able to get him under control by giving him something to eat.

I know my son can get a little excited sometimes, but usually in large groups or around people he doesn't know as well, he gets pretty quiet. I won't know what really happened while I was gone, but the part that I thought was most interesting was that it was Robby who was being so responsible in having to help deal with someone who was having a hard time paying attention and being quiet. Robby was usually one of those who had the same problem. We actually called him to be the Deacon's Quorum president with the idea that by keeping him as close as we could to us it might be possible to at least aim his boundless energy, even if it were impossible to control it.

Now there he was today, doing everything he could, including bribing a younger child with treats, to try to get the child to pay attention during a lesson and other activities, probably using some of the same tricks that have been used on him over the years. By the time I got there, the situation was under control, so whatever he did worked. He's become so responsible. I just can't wait to see him 10 years from now with kids of his own, serving as SM himself.

Wait a minute; this sounds like rock and/or roll.

I've always looked young, and so many other Scout leaders I know are a bit older than me, so I generally feel pretty young. I've had some experiences recently that have made me feel old, though. It doesn't have anything to do with the guy who called me Sir last week, but that didn't help either. It has to do with music, which has the power to amplify or cancel out emotions, depending on the situation.

Rewind back 3 or 4 years, and I was running a couple of my Scouts to their houses to grab their books or something that they needed. On our way there in my truck, they were looking at some of my CDs, one of which was a Van Halen album, probably Balance. I asked them if they like Van Halen, and they replied that they had never heard of them. I was floored.

Fast forward a couple years, and I was relating the above experience to my ASM. He likes the same kind of music that I do, and neither of us like the crap that kids listen to these days. He just pointed out it's always like that. Every generation has different music that they like. It just made me stop and think that I was getting old. I'm out of touch with the current generation. I seriously hate the music, if you can call it that. But everything I can think of that's bad about it is pretty much the same thing you hear of any parent complaining about the music their kids listen to.

I really think that hip hop music is worse than what I listen to. Of course, really thinking about it, some of the songs I like are not entirely appropriate, but for some reason it seems different and not as bad. Maybe music is getting worse. Maybe it's not, but I can't judge, because I'm out of touch.

Anyway, fast forward to just recently on the way home from a campout. I had a kind of weird mix CD in my truck that someone had made, so one of the boys popped it in the CD player. It doesn't much matter the purpose of the CD, except that it had a song by The Manhattan Transfer on it. I'm not necessarily a big fan of them, but I appreciate their music and understand the style of it. During a part of the song, where they hold a note and slowly drop the pitch, one of the boys complained that 'those guys are really bad singers'. I assume it was because they couldn't hold the pitch steady, not realizing that they do it on purpose just because they can. I'm not totally sure. It was just another reminder of how old I am. While I'm not a big fan of The Manhattan Transfer, like I said, I appreciate their music much more than I do Jay-Z or Soulja Boy. The boys now either dislike or have never heard of the music I like or even marginally appreciate. And I don't think there's anything that anyone can do about it, except hope that whatever replaces hip-hop is something better. I'm not holding my breath.