A dilemma

 Reading the (Sydney) weekend papers, I am drawn to an article about ‘The Search for Meaning’. This is probably a topical subject, it being Christmas time. The author comments on how, for the past few decades, people have been leaving the church in droves (and I am one of those people). And yet, people still seem to have an urge to search for ‘something’. 
Young people especially will not return to mainstream churches – perhaps ‘return’ is the wrong word, as most of them were never there in the first place  - and yet many young people, seem to be hungry for something of an ‘other-worldly’ experience - or form of expression.
 100 years ago, the wise writer  & lay theologian, G.K.Chesterton said, “When a man stops believing in God he doesn’t then believe in nothing, he believes anything”. Perhaps this is what leads to the popularity of some cults (including the‘mystical’ and confusing Kabbalah and the utterly crazy Scientology). 
After reading about this so-called 'search for meaning', I turn the page of the newspaper and read the following article about the problem of binge drinking amongst our young people and the dramas and tragedies that emerge from such a culture. 
  Is it perhaps the search for the elusive ‘Something’ that is leading our young people to lose themselves in alcoholic stupors? To indulge in an activity that deprives them of inhibitions and makes them ‘feel good’ about themselves? To give them a sample of euphoria that cannot be
achieved by other means?
It’s a sad and sorry situation when the only way a young person can feel good is to drink to the point where they lack any awareness in reality.  Of course, it’s not all young people, but there’s a heck of a lot who are indulging in this sort of  behaviour.
Could we find some simpler, happier and safer ways of satisfying the need for belief in something of meaning? And something apart from the rampart consumerism that is the drive for so many today. Am I right in thinking that there is a distinct lack of meaning in the lives of men, women and children today? If that’s true, I don’t have any answers and I am definitely NOT suggesting we all suddenly start attending church services. What to do? For my part, all I’m doing is having yet another whinge. As I said, I have no answers.
 But, I take this opportunity to add some lightness to my moan, and quote once more from G.K.Chesterton, who once wrote: “When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with
legs?”