A yearly survey at Beloit College (in Beloit, Wisconsin) reminds us of this reality.  The survey is taken among entering freshmen and presents a picture of the way the world looks to 18 year olds.

Among their findings- for kids entering college this year:

~ most don’t like email and use it as seldom as possible.  It is too slow.  Texting, facebook and twitter are the preferred methods of communication.

~ many don’t know how to write in cursive.  They grew up typing on keyboards.

~“Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” are terms that have been in their vocabulary all their lives. (to be honest, I know they are coffee descriptions but have no idea what they mean.)

~Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.

~unlike their parents, there is a good chance that they have never twisted the coiled handset wire aimlessly around their wrists while chatting on the phone.

 ~DNA fingerprinting and maps of the human genome have always existed.

~Leno and Letterman have always been trading insults on opposing networks.

~unless they found one in their grandparents’ closet, they have never seen a carousel of Kodachrome slides.

~second-hand smoke has always been an official carcinogen.

~toothpaste tubes have always stood up on their caps.

~there has always been a woman on the Supreme Court.

~having hundreds of cable channels but nothing to watch has always been routine.

The world looks differently to those entering college in 2010 than it did to me when I was a collegiate freshman in 1976.  The world is always changing.  You can be afraid of change or embrace change but change will come.

There are two things of which I am certain.  The world changes (and I embrace change that moves us toward a more caring, responsible, kind world), and “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”