What Do Young People Teach Us?

Each year, Beloit College publishes their Mindset List, describing what incoming freshmen have been exposed to since birth. For 2010 this means children born around 1992/1993. The limited context of these young people is always startling for older folks.

For example: This Freshman Class has known only two presidents: Bush and Obama.

But what about the vast array of social, moral, political and economic issues that inform our society? What constitutes their historical context?

Generally, they have a limited understanding of Western Civilization.
They have a limited (and biased) understanding of our Founding Principles.
They have always known a Government that takes care of the poor.
They have have always known sex education in public school.
They have never known a time when people did not have access to credit.
They have never been without a computer, cell phone, or mp3 player.
They get their news from The Colbert Report or the Daily Show.
They view sex as recreational.
They do not comprehend the idea of conservative. For them, everything is disposable.
They have never known a world without AIDs, public homosexuality or porn TV channels.

As a consequence, when older people speak of the breakdown of society, these young people can't relate. When we bemoan the loss of our heritage (Western Civilization), they don't know what we're talking about. And when we speak of morality, they think of the relative morality which makes everything right....for me.

EX: When a senatorial candidate can reference his Vietnam military experience, over a period of several years, when in fact he never served in Vietnam. Then blame the media for not understanding his words, and have a sizable number of people accept that as reasonable, you know we're in trouble.

But, then, it probably depends on the the definition of "is."
Another bit of cultural trivia these young people don't understand.

We Are About To Be Deemed Irrelevant

In the not-too-distant-past, in America, every child and every adult shared a common morality. They did not express it perfectly. They did not express it consistently. But we all knew what was right and what was wrong.

A stranger could correct your child for wrong behavior and you would appreciate it. Not only that, but the child would respond to it and change whatever they were doing. This behavior, on the part of the child, would be done with respect and politeness.

The moral standard we all shared, was biblical. It was the standard handed down through the Levitical Law and the Commandments of Jesus. It was taught in Public Schools and in Churches. It was taught in homes and in the public square. It was not oppressive, it was protective.

And it's gone! When it left, it took our American Heritage with it. All we're left with is the shell. We have a semblance of decency in our public face but behind that there is nothing of value to stand upon. Truth is whatever I want it to be. Character is whatever I think it to be. Every family, every community, every business has a different value-system. Words don't even mean what you think they mean.

And now, the U.S. House of Representatives is about to "Deem" the Health Care Bill to have passed, without ever voting to pass it!

Did you think you would live long enough to see the United States of America being sold down the river on this flimsy raft? Once Health Care becomes Law, it will grow and expand, until it becomes what Canada has and what Europe has: another nail in the coffin of individualism and personal responsibility.

So called Christians are telling us this is a 'moral imperative.' This from the same Bible that tells us, "if a any would not work, neither should he eat." [II Thess. 3:10] The context is a condemnation of disorderliness in living.

Take away mans' responsibility and he suffers in ways that can only destroy the society that sought to do him good. Once freed from the constraints of duty and responsibility, he is free to satiate his desires in more trivial pursuits. The end result being a man, a family, society must now take care of, completely.

The voices of reason, responsibility, independence and all things constructive, have been deemed irrelevant. In their place has come a new "Master," a new "Slave Owner." It's name: Self. The humanist's god. A most voracious task-master. One who's appetite is never satisfied.