February 14, 2014
Raising Kids in an Underground America
Cultures change and that is a fact. Raising children must also change in order to meet the demands and expectations of the culture. Here is my fear. I will teach my kids to do their best. I will teach my kids to take responsibility for their choices. I will teach my kids to be frugal with their resources. I will teach my children not to lie, cheat or steal.
Then the culture decides that those values are not worth propping up anymore. The culture runs past the point of tolerance and embraces the new normative behaviors as “right” and “correct”. Outside of God’s authority, what else are mores or laws? They are the accepted practices of the culture and the punishments for violating the normative behaviors. The New World Culture deems my children and their antiquated choices as undesirable and even a threat to the correct way of life.
If my children live a life according to the values that I mentioned in the first paragraph above; the ones that that my wife and I are trying in earnest to instill, then… My children will live a life of pain, suffering, disappointment and of no value. If my children adopt the values and choices of the culture, then… they will be accepted, prosperous, comfortable and happy. They will be free and have friends and the liberty to roam the earth unfettered.
I have mentioned many times that America is no longer the America of the founders. Long gone are the days of the protestant work ethics and the merits of a disciplined relationship with God. Our culture just does not care. Today, the name of the game is hedonism and warming up for the opera in EVERY WAY and EVERY DAY. Me, me me…
Only fools and suckers try not to cheat. Heck, it isn’t even cheating because everybody is doing it. Only an idiot would worry about bills and working. Forget worrying about laws. Do what you please. Why on earth would you struggle for a moment with a moral dilemma? Shake off those antiquated beliefs and join the Eric Cartman for President bandwagon!!! Or should we pledge our support to Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho??? There are so many more qualified candidates now that nothing matters!!
And what about God? I am deeply concerned that I am doing my children a disservice by teaching them to work hard, save money and treat others with respect. I am deeply worried to teach them about the love of Christ and how they should show that love to other people who may not know Him. Learn, worship and share the gospel… That would mean a life of ridicule, isolation, pain, suffering and more than likely execution for their Christian crimes.
Or maybe I should teach them how to manipulate and hide and be covert in their beliefs? Teach them to be the ultimate chameleon. Play the “get ahead” game during the day and pray to God in silence and secret meeting places with the underground bands of other believers.
Why is it that academics are so vehemently opposed to plagiarism, but have no problem creating and maintaining a cultural system that steals the work of some and re-distributes it to other people? What is the difference between stealing work at the college level and stealing work in the corporate world through taxes?
Companies like Hobby Lobby are not permitted to “force their” beliefs on others. BUT, they had better swallow those beliefs when a protected/preferred class of people enter their presence. I may not offend someone of the protected/preferred class, but I had damned well better suck it up when they offend me. “They” are protected in their beliefs, while I must capitulate mine in order to accommodate them.
Racism, sexism (and others in the laundry list of federally protected classes) are vile processes that seek to disenfranchise a certain group of people. Our culture has responded and our leadership has repeatedly made it clear that it is unacceptable. We are so good at ensuring it is unacceptable that we are giving 110% effort in making sure those protected groups that were once oppressed are now better, more protected, more deserving and more apt to have beneficial outcomes. The corrective action cannot be the same behaviors that necessitated the need for the corrective action. Justice, especially social justice, will be the tool that creates the next civil war by slashing at the decency of man by seeking historical equality and reparation.
There is nothing wrong with wanting everyone to be happy, free to pursue dreams and unencumbered by inequality of opportunity. There is nothing wrong with ensuring a good life for those who CANNOT provide that for themselves. There is nothing wrong with helping people who find themselves in unforeseeable circumstances that limit their livelihood or threaten the union of their family. There is nothing wrong with allowing people to have beliefs, regardless of the fallacy of those beliefs.
Here is what is wrong with trying to MAKE all of those scenarios a reality. People. Each person has a different flavor preference. Each person has a different perception. Each person has a different ability. So in the attempts of extremely misguided social constructionists, we try to force every situation in order to achieve some artificial outcome. Somebody gets more than someone else or a different color lollypop and then the children start fighting. We make rules. We have lost the foundations of understanding and we have certainly lost the backbone to withstand more than a featherweight of pressure. We set the bar as low as possible for achievement, and we incessantly create artificial equalities of achievement. The effort is made, of course, to obtain advantage in order to ensure equal outcomes.
I am not the smartest person in the world. I am neither omnipotent nor am I omniscient. I do know a little about people and their behaviors. Pretend for a moment that we had the ability to eliminate EVERY asset and currency from EVERY person on the face of the earth. EVERYONE was suddenly equal. What would happen?
Some would steal.
Some would create.
Some would isolate.
Some would seek protections and strength of other in forming groups.
Some would get ahead
Some would not
Some would fall behind.
What would be the situation one hundred years after the start of that experiment? 500 years? 1000? 2000? Yes, we would be right where we are now. Some would steal, some would create…
So what do I teach my children? How do I tell them to accept and live out a life choosing that there are some things that are right because God said they will be right. Well, I guess I must go with what is most important. God must be above all. Hold on kids, it is going to be a rough ride.
— R. A. Grier