Volume 6, Issue 13
A historical reflection on society’s yielding to forces that challenge the boundaries of morality points to a different conclusion.
Within the last generation, it was not uncommon to find hunting rifles in the parking lots of high schools. A student may, in fact, have had a handgun in their satchel. No one thought anything about it. What was the difference? They had no intention of using it for any illegal purpose.
What changed?
Governor Matt Bevin of Kentucky, in a recent townhall meeting, eloquently and compassionately answered this question. He stated that, as a society, we have allowed our children to be exposed to forces that have not only desensitized some, but have allowed for the distortion of reality for others. In summary, pornography is prevalent, dehumanizing women. Video games are violent. One particularly popular game rewards players who go back and finish off wounded victims. The lyrics of certain music are vulgar, immoral, disrespectful, and disconnecting of humanity. Social media allows for no safe harbor from cyber bullying and unfair personal criticism. Outrage seems to be the path to recognition.
Dignity of life is absent in any affirmation of such cultural application.
Further, the moral lines of acceptability on personal responsibility, respect for elders, two-parent households, and traditional respect for a national identity, have been blurred beyond definition. Adult direction regarding discipline of priorities, time management, and life goals and objectives have been relegated to school systems and the government. It was never the government’s intended role to manage a family or raise the nation’s children. Raising children is the responsibility of the parents.
We have abandoned our children to the random forces of secularism. Our children feel the necessity to march on the nation’s capital seeking relief from their anxiety over lack of security. They seek government regulation to solve the problem of cultural decline. This is an exercise in futility. Only the resolve and commitment of men and women responsible for this generation, convicted to a value system, can deliver true and sustainable relief.
Values begin with a moral code of ethics based on principles. Moral values are learned, not instinctively developed. Children must be taught values by generational leaders. Youth must be protected in their environment as they develop their moral perspective. Every child should be aided in their psychological formation of ideas. What is acceptable and not acceptable to society in reference to proper moral attitude must always be kept in focus. They should not have to decide for themselves, exposed in a confusing environment, the definition of the dignity of life.
Adults in America despair over the lack of principled leadership in our country today. In a recent article about David McCollough, the famous American historian, the author referenced a comment as to what kept Mr. McCollough up at night. He said, “I have to tell you – part of it is worrying about what is happening in our country.” He lamented that public figures are taking positions based on politics and have forgotten our country’s history. By this, I believe he meant, where is the principled leadership today? Where are the leaders who defend principle over personal agenda? Where are the men and women who seek to protect the generations from the encroachments of lasciviousness? McCollough wrote about history in a way that captured the reader in a relationship with the people who lived at the time of his illumination. The theme that weaves through all of his books is that it was never easy for people to face difficult situations. What made America great was that a few people were always committed and persistent to do the right thing. In time, truth prevailed.
His concern is that we have lost the will as a public to stand on truth and do the right thing.
It is critical to understand and realize that the truth lies inside each of us. What we want for our children, we must defend individually. This may include disciplining our children against their own will. It is not the purview or right of the ruling generation to delegate the teaching of our children’s moral values to government or government leaders. We all fall short of perfection. Depending on someone else to be perfect is fantasy in action. We must take it upon ourselves, even as we fail, to state succinctly the moral values that we hold dear.
We have abandoned our children to fend for themselves in a morass of cultural visions and messages that are undefined in purpose and destructive in outcome.
In allowing moral guidelines to slip, values are diminished as a premise. Our failure to voice our standards results in the cultural slide into moral irrelevancy.
This is something about which each citizen can do something. Raise your voice. Make it clear, in your sphere of influence, what you believe and what you expect. Never let it be said by our children that they didn’t know what we wanted for them. Stand up against all forces that push against the boundaries of decency. Freedom of speech should never be curtailed. But the content or action of free speech, in violation of our values, does not have to be accepted as normal.
What we tolerate our children will embrace.
By protesting at the capitals, our youth are demanding answers from their adults. The answer to our children’s needs lies in our collective commitment to values and principles, handed down to us by the generations, in protection for the next generation.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?