YETMO

”Change Isn't Always For The Better"

The sky may not be falling but that doesn’t mean that Chicken Little’s out of work and on permanent vacation.

Change doesn’t always equal progress and we’ve experienced some alterations over the past few decades which ought to give us pause.

Sometimes it’s too easy to blithely say that society’s fast flushing itself down the toilet. But it’s equally easy to ignore or dismiss troubling trends.

I recall one of my minister’s sermons. It caught my attention. Frequently I drift off to parts unknown when he’s speaking, wondering about the day’s household chores, whether I’ll be able to see my beloved golf live on TV that afternoon or catch it on the VCR during my pre-dawn exercise routine.

This day, however, he got me. Big time. Our children have changed — note the past tense — and it’s clearly not for the better, not for them, us, or generations to come.

Forty years ago, our schools’ major disciplinary problems were talking in class, chewing gum in school, and running in the halls. Today they are rape, robbery, and assault. That’s quite a graduation rate in less than two generations.

A mere 20 years ago, primary schoolchildren were most afraid of animals, dark places, strangers, high places, and loud voices. Now their fears have turned to parental divorce, lung cancer, pollution and mugging.

I suppose no one’s surprised that our society has become more alienated and violent than in bygone days. And we all have heard our friendly politicians talk tough on crime, pledge to return the streets to the people, and so on.

Judging from our children’s views of the world, we have failed miserably. Whether the blame rests with the baby boomers or the generation that spawned them may be an interesting academic question but it’s hardly the important issue.

Our children are lost souls in need of deliverance and safe harbor. Society has changed so much so quickly that what many people envision as the stereotypical nuclear family exists in only one in six U.S. households. Nearly as many, one in seven, are comprised of dual wage-earning parents.

Perhaps it’s too simplistic to blame these developments on feminism, increased media exposure, greater economic prosperity, increased me-ism, and separation of church and state. But somehow we’ve turned away from church and community-based people into a more isolated, mobile, self-reliant, independent group of folks. We may have bred strong individuals, but we’ve eroded families and communities.

Interdependency has fallen by the wayside. We’re no longer associated with our town, church, school or family as much as we are with concept slogans like the Pepsi Generation, Just Do it!, or No Fear.

Today, associations, if we have any, can be characterized as disconnected. People are confused. Yet, paradoxically we are simultaneously turning away from religion and community and towards books on spiritually. We sense something has gone terribly wrong and want to find our way back.

Dispossession and disillusionment abound. Somehow we’ve cast adrift the ship of state and severed its anchor line. Note how vicious the attacks are on people who speak about God-fearing values and behaviors. We’ve labeled them as radical right-wingers, although only a small portion may accurately fit that description. Note how quickly critics charge them with being harmful to society.

Just look around. How good has the common good become?

I submit that because these God-fearing people have tired of this surprisingly virulent rhetoric, they have self-censored and removed themselves from the public debate. And I further submit that the absence of their voices has led us in large part to our pitiful state.

My moral compass is the Bible. For others it’s the Torah or Koran. The problem isn’t which one to choose, but to choose one. All major monotheistic religions preach largely the same doctrine. Believe in God and follow His word, which can be up by the Golden Rule or loving others as you love yourself.

We don’t need less talk about what’s right and the need to do right. We need more. The fate of our children and grandchildren depends on it.