Who Wins in the Age of the Heart?

When I was a kid…people took religion a lot more seriously than politics. A mixed marriage was between a Catholic and a Protestant. Growing up I never knew that Christian and Jews, let alone Muslims (the St. Paul suburbs only had Christians with a smattering of Jews last century) could even get married to each other. And now mixed religions are certainly not uncommon. Public opinion has changed a great deal on that too. Growing up, there was a large percentage of parents who, when polled, indicated they wouldn’t want their child(ren) marrying outside of their faith. Now, most parents don’t care about that. And their children certainly do not care.

But they do care about politics. Now, the majority say they do not want their child(ren) to marry outside of their political “faith.” A seismic shift.

Another huge shift is regarding race. This isn’t to say that racism doesn’t exist; we still have a lot of problems and division, but my experience with students, the GenZ types, is that race doesn’t really enter into how they think about others. Not true for their parents, maybe, but true for them. A massive shift in just a generation.

Likewise, GenZ doesn’t seem to care that much about sexual orientation. Again, sexism and misogyny exist, but the students I dealt with didn’t really seem to care about sexual orientation. Today’s youth inspires me with their outlook. GenZ are the ones in this new age of the heart that have the skills to win.

These changes in politics and faith, race, gender, and sexual orientation have happened in a single generation. This new landscape has created a world in which many people feel lost or at least a little disoriented. And they (Millennials and Gens) want to oppose the new Age of the Heart.

So, who wins in this age? Those who can empathize, understand, and see more than their own perspective. The heart prevails over the brain and the hands.