The Time Has Come

By Clay Hipp

A call to the young, a plea for beauty

I am finishing my first half semester with my students (their first big test). We have spent much time on the origins of our democracy and the Constitution that created it. In Washington's "Farewell Letter" he warned us of two major issues going forward:

—alliances and entanglements with other countries and governments, and

—the rise of "factions"—the creation of political parties.

In a few words, independence abroad and unity at home. Would that we had listened and learned.

Almost immediately, President Adams and Vice President Jefferson's relationship turned into partisan politics with dirty tactics on both sides culminating in Jefferson winning the next election and creating a breakup between the two former allies and friends that lasted for years.

I have suggested to the class that my generation had not been kind to them, and have been encouraging them to get involved in the democratic process now in order to save the republic and rebuild what we had destroyed—for their children's sake.

As we enter the next few weeks, I hope that you will join me in raising the cry. I have a song that I am going to play for them before the semester is over by a sixties group named the Association called "Enter the Young” (a song I’ve written about before). It goes this way:

Well, some are walking, some are riding
(Here they come, yeah)
And some are flying, some just gliding
Released after years of being kept in hiding
They're climbing up the ladder, rung by rung

Enter the young (yeah)
Yeah, they've learned how to think
Enter the young (yeah)
More than you think, they think

Not only learned to think but to care
Not only learned to think but to dare
Enter the young

Yeah, here they come
Well, some with questions, some decisions
Here they come
And some with facts and some with visions
Of a place to multiply without the use of divisions
To win a prize that no one's ever won

Enter the young (yeah)
Yeah, they've learned how to think
Enter the young (yeah)
More than you think, they think

Here they come, yeah
Well, some are laughing, some are crying
Here they come
And some are doing, some are trying
Some are selling, some are buying
Some are living, some are dying
But demanding recognition one by one

Not only learned to think but to care
Not only learned to think but to dare
Enter the young, yeah, enter the young, yeah
Enter the young, yeah, enter the young, yeah
Enter the young

-The Association (written by T. Kirkman, 1966)

I will send them off, hopefully with a mission. Perhaps some will write back in a year or so and say they heeded my advice and took up a "vocation" along with their "professions" and have entered a race for national office with a vision. I am doing some non-partisan preaching and, occasionally, something resembling a prophetic voice. Somewhat like this:

'The time has come,' the Walrus said, 'To talk of many things: Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax— Of cabbages—and kings— And why the sea is boiling hot— And whether pigs have wings.'

'But wait a bit,' the Oysters cried, 'Before we have our chat; For some of us are out of breath, And all of us are fat!' 'No hurry!' said the Carpenter. They thanked him much for that.

—Lewis Carroll, "The Walrus and the Carpenter"

From the lyrics above and the excerpts of this classic poem, do you see why I keep harping on the idea that poets and songwriters are way ahead of most of us with respect to observing the life going on around them and then helping the rest of us see the beauty of the collective wisdom that is all around us?

We must encourage the next generation to pay more attention to the values that are outside our rational pursuit of something we call "progress." To my mind, our recent history has been mostly "regressive." The time is running out to rediscover beauty and art and create the beginnings of our American "Renaissance."

The Time is Now.