I don't feel like part of my generation.

Hey guys, Daniel here. 22 year old multimedia student, grew up in Florida, and started listening to Dennis Prager after moving to California a couple years ago. At school I'm surrounded by gamers. nerds. geeks. dorks. People who live by the great philosopher Peter Griffin, the messiah Neo, the cult of the Rebel Force, the prophet Kevin Smith. They are completely engrossed in what they legitimize as an underground culture, yet they hate with a vicious venomous passion anybody who dares call themselves Christian.
The bible teaches that a virtuous walk is never easy, the closer you get to Christ the more the Devil will try to bring you back to sin. Through this strife and struggle, you will be forged into being a better person. People will be able to recognize this change, this difference. Some will be inspired by it, amazed by it, others will feel threatened by it.
At my school these others aren't hard to identify. They're usually overweight, loud, vulgar, and unable to focus or follow directions. They feel that they're not only among the smartest people alive, but among the smartest who have ever lived. They believe America is a dictatorship and that religion is a plague. These are my peers. My generation. The people I'm forced to work with not only now, but also in the industry I'm trying so hard to be a part of.
Not only are the majority of the students in lock step with this mindset, but even the instructors are intellectually self-crippled by what they believe to be the unseen forces. A computer programming teacher hands out material used to show the process of event oriented programming, by relating it to how the entire news media is dissected by a government run filter before it's allowed on television and in print. Another teacher feels disgusted when he says 'Department of Homeland Security' because he feels that the word 'Homeland' sounds too much like 'Motherland', and therefore the entire concept reeks of Communism. On the wall a student tapes downloaded pictures of President Bush and Vice President Cheney surrounded by satanic symbols, and instructor and student alike ponder and reflect on the exhibit, praising it on it's use of design theories like symmetry, continuation, and isomorphic correspondence.
The bible says Deliver us from evil, not Deliver us through evil. In todays intrusive society, there is not option to "keep from", the only option given is "through". As this astonishing ritual of self importance plays itself out in the hallways, I can't help but be overwhelmed by the possibility that the institution is counter-productive to my education.
On Sunday morning as I lie on a couch in the youth room and sketch storyboards in my notebook before the group meets, I wonder what kind of generation the younger kids are going to grow up into. I wasn't born a Christian, infact I've only been trying to follow the word in the past two years. I envy the ones who grew up in a Christian home, learned core values from talking vegetables, went to private schools where the Ten Commandments are etched in marble on the campus lawn, and are stronger than I when it comes to having to endure the filth of society while still trying to hold true to the faith.
During service the youth group performs a drama, which includes a reinaction of the Columbine massacre, where Christian students were forced at gunpoint to denounce Jesus or else be executed, and the few courageous souls who chose the latter, and tears swell up in my eyes. I think about those students who were delivered through evil, and my own moral struggles seem so bearable by comparison.
What makes my moral struggles and pursuit of happiness so much more bearable are my newfound Christian friends, and listening to incredible intellectual and moral theologians such as Dennis Prager and Micheal Medved. I put the show on my iPod and listen to it while I jog in the mornings, so that I feel physically and intellectually energized to face the challenges of the day.
Well, thanks for reading my personal rant, I certainly have my own opinions on macro issues, like the creeping anti-nationalism among the liberal left, the national ADD when it comes to terrorism and the realities of war, and the greatness of America, especially when compared to the terrible state of the rest of the world. I hope to post more whenever I'm not so incredibly busy with school and getting a production studio off the ground, so you can expect to suffer more in following posts.

-Daniel