What is This World Coming To?
It's a question that's been asked often. "What is this world coming to?" It seems like every generation develops habits or moral values that are berated by earlier generations.
I remember asking my Grandma Vawser if she considered herself to be a flapper in the 1920s. She replied in the affirmative. I am sure that her parents and older siblings (she was the youngest in a large family) lamented when she shortened her skirts and cut her hair, but I suspect they were more worried about the possibility that her moral values would be compromised by her relationships with her partying peers.
I came of age in the early 1970s, another time of great unrest and change throughout the world. Although I embraced and participated in the "Jesus movement" that emerged during that time, I wasn't really part of the whole hippie movement, which championed world peace, free love, and rampant drug use. These questionable changes in lifestyle were a worry for many parents and grandparents of that era.
Some innovations of the 60s and 70s, like the huge changes in music styles, affected everyone, whether they admitted it, or not. I still remember the words of my music teacher, Mr. Beetley, who commented that the Beatles' music had changed music for all time. And of course, hemlines were raised again. It's hard for me to acknowledge that I really wore dresses to high school that were only fingertip length. (In my defense, I'll comment that even my mother and grandmothers wore their skirts above their knees then. However, I don't believe that my grandmothers ever wore hot pants...)
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That is the value of the study of history; we can see how, through the ages, moral values throughout the world have moved in cycles.
Now, we are well into the twenty-first century, and I find myself beginning to express concerns about the younger generations. Some passing fads, such as tattoos, body piercings, and multi-colored hair, are mildly annoying to me at times, but they really don't matter any more than girls' short skirts and boys' long hair mattered in the 70s. There are some bigger issues that are of much more concern to me now.
I'm concerned that too many young parents let their children set the rules and "rule the roost." Parents need to set reasonably high expectations for their children, and then enforce those values firmly, but lovingly.
I think that children today, and their parents, as well, have too much stuff! Children are learning at younger and younger ages to be so materialistic. I am worried about the attitude that people can have anything they want, whenever they want it, whether or not they can afford it. This attitude has even infected our government, with its huge, out-of-control debt. If this attitude of entitlement isn't curbed soon, our children and grandchildren may have to deal with inevitable, long-lasting poverty and hardship in the not-too-distant future.
I think that technology is wonderful, but I worry when I hear just how much time the average child spends everyday in front of the TV or computer, or with hand held electronic games and phones. It's up to parents to exercise some restraint on behalf of their children. It's okay to limit your child to only an hour of recreational electronics a day, because interaction with real people is much more important than manipulation of electronic devices!
I worry about rampant drug abuse, especially the epidemic of meth use in our area, which ruins lives and tears families apart.
I am concerned about the children who have never known what it's like to live in a stable, two-parent family. It is especially worrisome for me when I see young mothers, in particular, who flit from one live-in boyfriend to another, encouraging their children to call each one "Dad," and giving no thought to the long term consequences. It's bad enough when a young woman suffers through a broken relationship, but her young children should not have to suffer through a series of break-ups with her! And I don't even want to mention the long-lasting attachment issues that can affect children who learn, at an early age, that the people they love just can't be trusted to stay in their lives.
"What is this world coming to?" There, I've said it, too!
I am so thankful that God has seen our distress, and has a solution for our problems. After all, sin is the real problem in any generation, isn't it?
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17
I remember asking my Grandma Vawser if she considered herself to be a flapper in the 1920s. She replied in the affirmative. I am sure that her parents and older siblings (she was the youngest in a large family) lamented when she shortened her skirts and cut her hair, but I suspect they were more worried about the possibility that her moral values would be compromised by her relationships with her partying peers.
I came of age in the early 1970s, another time of great unrest and change throughout the world. Although I embraced and participated in the "Jesus movement" that emerged during that time, I wasn't really part of the whole hippie movement, which championed world peace, free love, and rampant drug use. These questionable changes in lifestyle were a worry for many parents and grandparents of that era.
Some innovations of the 60s and 70s, like the huge changes in music styles, affected everyone, whether they admitted it, or not. I still remember the words of my music teacher, Mr. Beetley, who commented that the Beatles' music had changed music for all time. And of course, hemlines were raised again. It's hard for me to acknowledge that I really wore dresses to high school that were only fingertip length. (In my defense, I'll comment that even my mother and grandmothers wore their skirts above their knees then. However, I don't believe that my grandmothers ever wore hot pants...)
The more things change, the more they stay the same. That is the value of the study of history; we can see how, through the ages, moral values throughout the world have moved in cycles.
Now, we are well into the twenty-first century, and I find myself beginning to express concerns about the younger generations. Some passing fads, such as tattoos, body piercings, and multi-colored hair, are mildly annoying to me at times, but they really don't matter any more than girls' short skirts and boys' long hair mattered in the 70s. There are some bigger issues that are of much more concern to me now.
I'm concerned that too many young parents let their children set the rules and "rule the roost." Parents need to set reasonably high expectations for their children, and then enforce those values firmly, but lovingly.
I think that children today, and their parents, as well, have too much stuff! Children are learning at younger and younger ages to be so materialistic. I am worried about the attitude that people can have anything they want, whenever they want it, whether or not they can afford it. This attitude has even infected our government, with its huge, out-of-control debt. If this attitude of entitlement isn't curbed soon, our children and grandchildren may have to deal with inevitable, long-lasting poverty and hardship in the not-too-distant future.
I think that technology is wonderful, but I worry when I hear just how much time the average child spends everyday in front of the TV or computer, or with hand held electronic games and phones. It's up to parents to exercise some restraint on behalf of their children. It's okay to limit your child to only an hour of recreational electronics a day, because interaction with real people is much more important than manipulation of electronic devices!
I worry about rampant drug abuse, especially the epidemic of meth use in our area, which ruins lives and tears families apart.
I am concerned about the children who have never known what it's like to live in a stable, two-parent family. It is especially worrisome for me when I see young mothers, in particular, who flit from one live-in boyfriend to another, encouraging their children to call each one "Dad," and giving no thought to the long term consequences. It's bad enough when a young woman suffers through a broken relationship, but her young children should not have to suffer through a series of break-ups with her! And I don't even want to mention the long-lasting attachment issues that can affect children who learn, at an early age, that the people they love just can't be trusted to stay in their lives.
"What is this world coming to?" There, I've said it, too!
I am so thankful that God has seen our distress, and has a solution for our problems. After all, sin is the real problem in any generation, isn't it?
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." John 3:16-17
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