Definition: something UUYAN is seeking to eradicate. A psychological or spiritual condition found primarily in raised-UU adults. The "Cliff" is a reference to the trauma experienced by UU young adults as they are pushed out of the beloved spiritual community of UU youth programs, out into what feels like nothingness. The "Bridge" is a reference to efforts by UU activists to replace the nothingness with a Bridge into a viable UU young adult program and appropriate young adult community. These activists are working for the widespread establishment of a ceremonial rite of passage for the new young adult, called the Bridging Ceremony, but these efforts are still in the beginning stages. In most UU communities, there yet exists no Religious Education program to help the Bridgers reflect on and receive guidance through the psychological transition into adulthood; and with a few exceptions, there exists no age-appropriate spiritual community to welcome the Bridgers on the other side.
I see the Mark of the Cliff on raised-UU adults of all ages, and so I know that the Cliff has been around for decades, maybe even generations. I suspect that Bridging Trauma is a widespread situation among our raised-UU adults. No one has done any research, that I know of, on exactly how widespread. Our statistics tell us that only 10% of our currently active adult population grew up inside the church. A lifelong UU is a rare creature to be spotted and pointed out: Look, there goes one. To me, this is chilling: Where did they all go? The ones that are still around often look kind of injured, limping. What happened to the ones who are gone?
If I ask random congregants about this, they say, Oh, the children are so bright and shining, they have a kind of spiritual freedom and self-love that we never had, I hear that they are all geniuses. They must all go on to wonderful things. If I ask the youth and young adults where their old friends from youth group are now, I often hear a different kind of anecdote. I hear about drug addiction, despair, resentment, cynicism, aliennation.
That shining light, the free spirit, the community leadership of YRUU mostly does not seem to survive adulthood.
The Cliff is a silent disaster, knocking wave after wave of our children out of the sky just as they are spreading their wings to fly.
As with most disasters, people have differing methods of trying to cope. The strongest and most common is denial-- "That's not really happening."-- or its cousin, minimization: "It's not really as bad as you say it is."
Maybe, after all, Bridging Trauma doesn't disable the majority of our raised-UU kids. Maybe it's really only a small minority, or maybe the trauma is really not that severe. After all, most of our young people do manage to finish school, get a job, form a family. They're normal. Right?