I've worn it out, but I had a tee shirt the color of red
dirt found in "red rock" country, that said on the back "Older
Than Dirt". Humorous to be sure, but it's how I feel sometimes as I sit on
the cusp of the far side of middle age. I'm in my early 60's now, and the world
I came into is passing away. It's not just that my body isn't as dynamic as it
once was, but the moral values that contributed to a stable civilization is
passing out of existence.
I've thought for many years the Victorians had it right, and
the morals and values of the mid-twentieth century were correct. There are
behaviors the rend the social fabric, but in previous times these were indulged
in quietly, behind closed doors. Now we do such things openly with braggadocio.
I can't see we are better off for it.
When I was in high school in the 1960's it was a shock when
a girl got pregnant. Premarital sex was something most of us didn't even consider;
it wasn't a good thing. I recently saw a vid with Ann Coulter and John Stossel in
an auditorium filled with young libertarians. Coulter said divorce was too easy,
it's violation of a contract. The idea was met with boos and hisses. I think
now people enter into marriage no longer viewing it as a sacred relationship
and as entirely disposable. The family is all but destroyed since marriage has
become that, and we're moving toward marriage meaning a State sanctioned
coupling of anyone. Our schools are being allowed to teach first and second
graders that homosexuality is a desirable thing. In my school days, we didn't
get sex ed until seventh grade, I think. Homosexuality, and I don't care who
you're poking, is not normative, yet it's being promoted over cross sex
relationships.
When I was a kid, most everybody went to church. There we were in contact with all ages, and there was continuity
and exposure to other's knowledge and wisdom. It's were we were taught ethics
and values that formed the foundation of our society. How we were to treat
people, how and why to serve others. That
and our families were the focus and center of our lives. Life was in fact more
simple then.
Things fall apart. There now exists the idea since these
values can't be lived up to, don't even try. If one does try, and fails, you're
a hypocrite. I remember studying existentialism in high school and college, and
part of that philosophy was nihilism. From Wikipedia: Nihilism is the
philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation
of one or more putatively meaningful
aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of
existential nihilism, which argues that life
is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value. Moral nihilists
assert that morality does not inherently
exist, and that any established moral
values are abstractly contrived. Nihilism can also take epistemological or
metaphysical/ontological forms, meaning respectively that, in some aspect,
knowledge is not possible, or that reality does not actually exist. [emphasis mine]
From that I ponder if our country, our civilization, is too
far gone into nihilism. Any behavior is acceptable, even if it destroys the
family (the foundation of civilization), exploits kids sexually (pedophilia is
on the rise and becoming more acceptable, parents dressing their daughters like
street walkers as examples), and destroys the Church, the foundation of care
and charity, the source of moral teaching. Now that schools have become the
source of that, the moral teaching is any traditional behavior is to be
rejected, religion is to be rejected along with the church, pastors and priests
are to be reviled and mocked and replaced by the State and politicians.
Politicians are now the priests. Judges wear priestly robes, but ignore the
law; interpret it anyway they want. Together they enforce the secular religion
of the State.
We have degenerated in moral relativity and nihilism. It
saddens me that 5000 plus years of tyranny being the norm of civilization, the
United States comes along and rights things with the Declaration and
Constitution, providing law based on moral Judeo-Christian foundations, and
that is being rejected in favor of returning to tyranny and the embracing of a
meaningless existence except pleasing one's self, mostly materially.
Despite all the problems existing in my childhood, life was
simpler then, and I would say better. Many of those problems were resolved or
at least partially corrected, but it was because of Faith, Family, Communion
and Service with each other.
Life was simpler then. This is from the Monkey's song “Only
Shades of Gray” and I share this lament (though it meant something different
when I was a kid).
When the world and I were young,
Just yesterday.
Life was such a simple game
A child could play.
It was easy then to tell right from wrong.
Easy then to tell weak from strong.
When a man should stand and fight,
Or just go along.
Refrain:
But today there is no day or night
Today there is no dark or light.
Today there is no black or white,
Only shades of gray.
I remember when the answers seemed so clear
We had never lived with doubt or tasted fear.
It was easy then to tell truth from lies
Selling out from compromise
What to love and what to hate,
The foolish from the wise.
It was easy then to know what was fair
When to keep and when to share.
How much to protect your heart
And how much to care.
This
lament combined with aging and what comes with it. Once again from much
rejected scripture.
Remember
your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come And the years
approach of which you will say, I have no pleasure in them; Before the sun
is darkened. and the light, and the moon, and the stars, while the clouds
return after the rain; When the guardians of the house tremble, and the
strong men are bent, And the grinders are idle because they are few, and they
who look through the windows grow blind; When the doors to the street are
shut, and the sound of the mill is low; When one waits for the chirp of a bird,
but all the daughters of song are suppressed; And one fears heights, and
perils in the street; When the almond tree blooms, and the locust grows
sluggish and the caper berry is without effect, Because man goes to his lasting
home, and mourners go about the streets; Before the silver cord is snapped
and the golden bowl is broken, And the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and
the broken pulley falls into the well, And the dust returns to the earth
as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it. Vanity of
vanities, says Qoheleth, all things are vanity! (Ecclesiastes
12:1-8)
Things
fall apart. I lament the falling apart of our nation's traditional mores and
values, but don't lament my aging. I embrace it. I'm saddened that following generations may not know the sweetness of liberty and making decisions and judgments for oneself.
