Some of this seems to be tied to every tyrannical measure and scare tactic that they threw at us with the Peter Pandmeic. I randomly called it the Peter "Pandemic" because it was mostly based on fantasy. But a lot of this would probably be happening anyway.
Our airwaves are bombarded with bad news, for the most part, whether it's pandemic related or something else. We continue to give away our wealth and have it stolen away and spent and wasted away right out from underneath. I'm not Gen Z of course and some of it has been bad luck, some of it's been bad choices, and some of it just is but I certainly have struggled at times in life to make ends meet. I'm doing okay these days but it was harder for me to make it arguably than it was the generation of my parents. It just gets progressively worse.
And even while I, as all flesh does, struggle at times keeping my eyes and mind where they need to be, the reality is both country and church, or churches drift further and further away from God and His Word and His instruction.
God says things like this.
Jeremiah 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
Prov 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Psalm 1:1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Yet the "wise ones" in the country scoff and offer nothing of hope or value and believe it to be fairy tales. The politicians who wanted our votes claim to trust in them and they'll make it all better. And the church(es) are more worried about becoming more like the world so they can attract these disaffected youth because sadly they have become more like the medical industry, more interested in "customers", i.e. butts in the pews that maybe will throw some money in the plate than offering the life saving, mind freeing, chain breaking grace and salvation of Jesus Christ first and foremost. And not offering as in selling, but presenting the truth, teaching the truth, and doing their best to be evidence of that truth by walking separate from the world than walking lock step with it.
It's not about judging. I certainly have temptations and I fall short. Sometimes over the same thing(s). But just like everything we tried with the pandemic was wrong, ill advised, and self defeating, almost every thing done to and for our people, and the subsequent generations are things that are wrong, ill advised, and self defeating.
There is no hope and no victory in man alone. And that is saying nothing against mental health professionals who try to help. But when so much, not all, but so much of what we face is a spiritual problem and spiritual emptiness and we never adequately address that either at the secular or the church level, than we'll just see things get worse and worse.
It starts with Christ and with God. That's the closest family that we actually have and if we're far apart from them we're always going to dealing with some level of distress. One day that will change and that's a day that we can look forward to.