Affluenza and Penuritis - Part 1

Keep deception and lies far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the Lord?” or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God [Proverbs 30:8-9].

In growing up today young people are faced with a situation never before faced by American youth. The medical term for it is affluenza. It runs rampant through a goodly percentage of the population.

And then there are those young people with the opposite medical condition, viz., penuritis. This condition also permeates a goodly percentage of the population. It is much less appreciated by those infected, than is affluenza to those with its condition. Though it doesn’t usually result in death, it does universally result in dearth.

It wasn’t long ago that growing up meant finishing high school and, for some folks, going to college and beyond. The goal in either case was to acquire the skills needed to enter the work force and become a productive citizen of society. Which position in the work force a person sets his sights on determined what education was required.

Until just recently the predominance of young people knew what they would become after the educational years were concluded. Some knew they would work at a local factory, others at an office as clerical or administrative staff, and still others became brain surgeons or mad scientists!

It doesn’t work that way much anymore, not since the affluenza infestation. The CDC has yet to get a handle on this plague. Affluenza is characterized by a superfluity of options and the concomitant choices to be made in life. It is so overwhelming that it leaves our young folks’ heads spinning. The end result is that they become insensitive to decision-making, wallowing their lives away in indecision.

In the case of penuritis the infected youths also become insensitive to decision-making, but for very different reasons. These young folks don’t face the problem of having too many options to choose from. They have too few!

The young people infected with penuritis reconcile themselves to the fact they will never have the opportunity to better themselves. Such choices are not available to them. The bottom rung of the ladder is their lot in life. Whether they are relegated to this because of society or because of their own mental prison, it is still their lot in life.

The writer of Proverbs 30 employed Biblical Hebrew parallelism to express these two extremes. He recognized the dangers involved in both maladies and prayed to be delivered from each.

The term parallelism has to do with poetry. Today we rhyme words at the end of lines to form poetry. The Hebrews back in the day rhymed ideas between lines to create their poetry. We will diagram the two verses in our next study. But for now we must take our leave and spend some time alone with the Lord Jesus. See you tomorrow!

To further research this issue, I direct you to my books in the Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes Bible study series. To purchase my books please click on the "Shop" tab at the top of this page, where you will find a complete list of my books. Each book is available in both paperback (Createspace) and eBook (Kindle).

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