Rejuvenile by Christopher Noxon  
 

07.08.06 Someone Needs a Nap

I suppose it was inevitable that Rejuvenile would stir up some righteous indignation in the crankier corners of our wide and fractious land.

Well the pot’s been stirred, friends.

Meet Ingrid Schlueter, back-to-basics Christian and capital-A angry adult.

A blog entry I posted last summer on the glories of adult kickball elicited the following response from Ms. Schlueter, producer and co-host of a radio program out of Milwaukee, WI called ?Crosstalk?:

After reading your site for the last twenty minutes I feel like I’m going to vomit. Adults in Underoos and footy pajamas, adults watching Teletubbies? What this country needs is a really major economic crash, the kind where people are on the sidewalk selling pencils and their children have nothing to eat? Thank God some young people are adult enough to drop the Sponge Bob videos and defend our country. I doubt if they’re sucking pacifiers in Iraq.

Ms. Schlueter went on to comment further on her blog, taking a break from her usual survey of how the modern world is infecting the modern church (among her concerns: church-based Starbucks, “laughing” ministries and yoga) to take further aim at Rejuvenile, saying I am ?promoting the newly defined adulthood that means you really never ever have to grow up.?

Well golly. I suspected the book might elicit some anger from traditional family advocates, but back-to-basics Christians? How is it that I keep getting mixed up with this crowd? (See this story for a primer on my last adventure among aggrieved Christians)? It’s just so bizarre. How so? Let me count the ways.

1) Ms. Schlueter wants to vomit? Like actually upchuck? As icky as this sounds, the same sort of reflexive physical revulsion is common among many social critics featured in the —  Robert Bly on the left to Marcel Dansei on the right. It’s a largely emotional, reactionary —  about adults wearing fuzzy pajamas or eating red velvet cupcakes simply offends them to the core. And while I’m as creeped out as the next guy by grown men in superhero Underoos, I do think it’s worth asking: why exactly do we find this stuff so objectionable? Some of this stuff is dumb, beneath our capacities, infantilizing, all that. But some of it is just silly. Could it be that they get us riled up not because of their inherent vileness but because they’re simply out of step with mostly arbitrary cultural age norms we’ve never really taken a hard look at? As ridiculous as this stuff may often appear, might there be some value in hanging on to some things that has always given us pleasure?

2) Do our children really need to go hungry and sell pencils on the street for Ms. Schlueter to be happy? As loony as this sounds, her call for economic collapse as a mass exercise in maturity reveals a crucial difference between traditional adults and rejuveniles. In the traditional view, adulthood is a deadly serious, pull-up-your-bootstraps trial endured by the strong and avoided by the feeble. Rejuveniles act out an opposite view, behaving as if adulthood is not only about meeting obligations and doing your duty but also about learning new things and having more fun. To them, suffering is vastly overrated.

3) No, there’s not a lot of pacifier-sucking going on in Iraq these days. (There is, however, a kickball team - go figure.) There’s also a whole lot of childishness, from the magical thinking of our swashbuckling leaders to the pathological rigidity of our enemies. It’s a horror show on all counts, and one that I have no illusions will be solved by anything to do with SpongeBob.

I suppose I should be glad that Ms. Schlueter saw fit to call Rejuvenile “horrifyingly accurate” and “a book that defines the modern church.” And while I’m clearly sympathetic to many of the people I write about, it deserves repeating that Rejuvenile isn’t meant to be entirely celebratory. We’re talking about a broad range of people. Some are lost souls burying themselves in childish stuff to escape complicated adult realities. But many more are adults who juggle adult responsibilities, ponder tough questions and still maintain a core essence of childlike play.

I wouldn’t dare enter a Biblical debate with the likes of Ms. Schlueter, but I seem to recall something from my parochial school days about ?unless we become as a little child we could not see nor enter the kingdom of God?? On this point, Jesus and rejuveniles agree wholeheartedly.

 

Posted at 12:46 am in Harrumphing Codgers | 10 Comments

Comments

I really like this blog a lot.  Why is it that adulthood has to be void of fun and every-once-in-a-while childhood antics?  It makes no sense.  Good job.

Posted by Matt on 07/08 at 03:03 AM

I think you miss the point that Ingrid was making… the sociological change you are identifying seems to be a drift away from the commonly-held ideal of “selflessness and responsibility” as key characteristics of adult behavior, moving more towards irresponsibility as the natural result of a growing social acceptance of selfish, self-indulgence on the part of adults.  It’s not about “fun”, but fun out of perspective.  By the way, minimizing opposing viewpoints by stereotype and demeaning language seeems like a “rejuvinile” argumentative style… just an observation, and I do recognize that it prompted me to read your material as well!

Posted by Wes on 07/08 at 06:10 AM

When our Lord stated that we should become as children, He was refering to our faith, not our shunning of responsibilities and dress or choice of activities. If you would like to use scripture, how about Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13:11, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”

Posted by Situ on 07/08 at 07:01 AM

I saw you on CNN and you really struck a chord with me.  I haven’t read your book but will be searching it out at the store tomorrow.

As a father of two young children, I too agree with many of your points.  I have stacks of toys that I happily share with my children.  One of the exciting points in my relationship with my kids was when I was able to take the exact Star Wars toys that I had as a child and show them the films and let them play with those toys.  It was and is a connection that I’m glad to have with them and one that I know I don’t have with my own father.

I have noticed several of my friends who are young fathers like myself who really seek approval from their kids and they are raising “peers” or a posse instead of being proper teachers.  I fully understand my role as dad and I know that I have to help shape their lives. So I do feel that I’m raising them with the same structure and morals that my own parents excellently taught to me,but I feel that I’m able to keep them closer to me(meaning they are more willing to share secrets with me instead of just their friends) with our shared love of childhood things.

I’m sorry that you are going to have to endure the bible thumpers with too much time on their hands.  But their arguments have turned into noise that most of us ignore anyway.  Plus it seems to galvanize what I really believe so maybe they should all think about a different tact instead of quoting tall tales that haven’t yet gone fully out of fashion.

Posted by Joey on 07/09 at 12:29 AM

Why are those who claim to be closest to God always so unhappy and so negative about everything?

By the way, I love the idea behind your book.  Living ever exploring and wonder filled lives does not mean avoiding work and responsibility.  My playtime allows me to return to my job better able to fulfill my obligations and carry my responsibilities.

Posted by Chris on 07/10 at 08:23 AM

Only someone who knows little of strife would wish for our country to suffer through another Depression.  I doubt Ms. Schuelter would want to see the children in her family starving.

I guess I should thank Ms. Schuelter for blogging about your book because that is how I found you.  I think it is bad, though, for bloggers to post on another’s site and then send readers of their blog to do the same.  It is like encouraging people to fight, and is most unChristian.

Posted by Miller on 07/10 at 12:58 PM

As a Christian, I would just like to say to all who are not, don’t please don’t let the self righteous rantings of Ingrid Schlueter represent Christians as a whole.  Sure, there are A LOT more people out there who judge and speak of love and grace and slap you in the face at the same time who supposedly represent Christ ... There are also many Christians who are open minded and know that to truly show people Christ, is through love ... not condemnation and attacks ... The point of your book is something I agree with (though I haven’t read it, just finding out about it via Ingrid’s advertisement) ... I’m 24, but why should I not still enjoy cartoons or things from my childhood ... why should I want to be serious and miserable all of the time ?  Johnathan Winters in his book “Winters’ Tales” makes a very strong case that we should all hold tight to the toys, etc. that were precious to us in our younger years, so we can hold them at times and never lose the memories of our youth ... you can still be responsible and not miserable ... I have my pissed off angry days just like anyone, but it’s laughing and sillyness that makes me forget the troubles of life ... Ms. Schuelter should stop vomitting long enough to smile and laugh once in a while.  Remember, Follow CHRIST, not His Followers ... John 20:29

Posted by Brian on 07/11 at 08:39 AM

Oh yeah, and can I have like a free book or something ?  Haha !

Posted by Brian on 07/11 at 08:41 AM

I just listened to the recording of your interview on NPR?s Web site this morning, and feel compelled to add my point of view.  I will be buying your book in the near future as I’ve been searching—even longing—to find like minds for quite some time now.  Thank you!

I grew up in a very serious household, with very unhappy parents.  My father and his mother (in particular) had work and life attitudes that bordered on martyrdom.  I grew to understand that it had much to do with the fact that my grandfather (Dad’s father) was killed in WWII, forcing my grandmother to work very hard, and my father to “grow up” very fast. 

While I appreciate, respect, and love my father very much, I saw him give up on his dreams, sacrificing everything, including joy.  Eventually, he became an alcoholic (though he later recovered), working in a job he hated for 20 years. 

When I reached my twenties, I decided I wouldn?t follow that same path.  I took chances in my life, believing that one could not only be happy, but responsible as well.  I traveled a lot, tried different types of jobs, and studied many different subjects in college and on my own. 

I am now 42 years old, but most people think I’m in my thirties.  I still wear my hair long; I smile a lot, and enjoy stimulating conversation about all kinds of topics.  My husband and I love the movies, books, music, following new technology, and traveling.  I consider both of us to be very responsible, but we make different choices than most people I know around us. 

I am happily married, though Life did not give us children, and we have adjusted to living with just the two of us and a couple of rescued dogs and cats.  We have chosen to live in a less-expensive, but neat old house that we enjoy renovating, and we share one car so as to keep expenses down and have more free time.  We have traveled quite a bit, though always on a budget. 

I am not sure where I’m going with this, but I do struggle with judgment by those who don?t seem to understand my desire to have joy in my everyday life, and maintain a balance between work and family.  Some have assumed I must be irresponsible.  Why?  Because I don?t have children?  Because I leave work at 5:00?  Because I don?t believe I have to work in a job I hate?  (Rhetorical questions.) 

In reality, I am actually very hard on myself, and work very hard to be a good and attentive daughter to my parents; I am honest to a fault, and I put in a day’s work for a day’s pay. 

I just don’t want to be a martyr.  I want to enjoy the childhood I never had.

Posted by Laura on 07/12 at 07:25 AM

This is what I told that
lady who thinks that everyone
shood be a growedup when they
have been alive for longer
than 13 years.
**************************
I’m a handicapped boy who had
a heat stroke when I was 15, and
I was born with not enough
oxygen.

I do wear Tigger and Pooh,
and I don’t do much growedup
things at all.

There are alot of growedup things
that I don’t understand unless
they are made easy enough for me
to understand, like regular
church, regular` church is too
hard so I watch Veggie Tales
because regular church is too
hard, I don’t understand the
sermon, there is too many
big words ad weird weords that
make no sense mto me.

In Veggie Tales I learned that
God loves everyone, handicapped
people too. I never learned
that in regular church.

I don’t know if God made a
booboo when I was born or if
He made me that way for some
odd reason I can’t figure out,
but I am the way I am, and
there is no way that I know
of to alter it.

I can’t help how I am, I
did not ask to be made this
way, but I’m not going away
until I am called back to
The Great Beyond.

Posted by Little Tigger on 07/26 at 11:33 PM

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