morals

THE IMMORALIZATION OF AMERICA

Where have all our morals gone??
* It's Instinct!!
As a duckling knows how to swim, so does a child instinctively know that he/she needs guidance.
When children are constantly pushing the edge, they are instinctively testing the parent, asking the parent to define the parameters of their behavior...[Is this acceptable??-- Can I say that??] For many centuries, this 'question and answer' method worked reasonably well. But, gradually over time, more and more parents are not implementing this formula. I believe there are many reasons this has occurred. Facts will tell you that the divorce rate has grown steadily for the last 40 or so years. The average family in the '50s was 2 adults and 2.5 children. The average family today is 1 adult and 3.5 children. The numbers speak for themselves.

* The Problem...

Many parents today 1) Have less time to spend with their children - more parents working, parents working more, emphasis on parents to participate in more activities, ie: volunteering, exercising, sports, social events, etc. 2) With more divorced, single parent families comes the intense guilt of many parents, who blame themselves because the other parent is no longer an intimate part of their children's lives - 'If I could only have worked things out with my spouse, my children wouldn't have to grow up without their father/mother', or the divorced parents begin a competition with each other to try to 'buy' the children's affections and loyalties, in which they are mistakenly vying with the other parent to be the 'best' parent, that 'wins' the 'most love' , 3) Single mothers, who oftentimes don't even know who the child's father is, who can't provide the children with the security of having a loving mother and father, who are usually riddled with guilt due to the lack of that family structure, 4) 'Babies having babies' who are too young to have the first clue as to how to be a parent - want to give the children 'all the love they never got' ie; give them anything they want, are not mature enough to have an intimate relationship with another person, causing the children to endure all the fighting and arguments of their parents which, once again, usually creates the 'competition' to be the 'better parent' , 5) Sadly, the number of parents who are drug- or alcohol-addicted, or who are abusers or (horrifyingly) molesters, that don't even know how to take care of themselves, much less a child.These are just some of the many reasons why the original, natural way of raising and teaching children has fallen by the wayside. If children are not provided with those boundaries that let them know what is and isn't acceptable behavior, they generally grow up not understanding the concept. As one generation does not learn, so does it not pass that knowledge down to the next. This pattern seems to be snowballing as the years go by, causing the problem to expand and become more critical as time goes on.

*The Result?

Children who are spoiled can be annoying, but there is no one so unpleasant, and unhappy, as an adult who is selfish, demanding and rude, because they were not, as children, taught that there are, and will be throughout their lives, rules that they must follow, laws that they must abide by, statements and comments they shouldn't make, actions they should not take, courtesies that they should show, and respect that they are expected to give to themselves and others at all times.

*Mixed Messages...

This lack of vital information negitively affects the children their entire lives, (unless they seek and benefit from counseling at some point), and also usually results in the child believing that their parents don't really love them, because they do understand on a unconscious and instinctive level that their parents did not provide them with something that was imperative for them to have. Therefore, unless they have received counseling or taken psychology courses - their mind will generally translate that into meaning that what they did not receive from their parents must be love. The older they get, the more hurt they can become that their parents didn't care enough about them and love them enough to take the time to provide them with what they needed. What the parents regard as 'being extra lenient with them' to make up for whatever negative aspect the parents feel they've caused, or 'letting the children have the 'freedom' they never had as kids', or wanting to be the 'best', ie; most popular parent of the two, the children see as a lack of love ('If they had truly loved me, why didn't they take the time to teach me the basic rules and fundamentals of life??') Although the situation may be the complete opposite, (the parents were erroneously trying to show their love for their children), the children usually perceive it as a sign that their parents didn't love them enough to 'bother'.

*The Evidence...

Excellent examples of the escalation of this failure by parents to communicate the etiquette of life to their children are: the growing number of rude, selfish, insensitive people who think only of themselves and their needs and feelings; the increasing numbers of people who run red lights or cut you off or park illegally in handicapped spaces because it's to their advantage, showing a complete and utter disregard for the law and the safety and convenience of others; the expanding incidences of rape, incest, phsyical, emotional, mental and physical abuse, stemming from the absence of respect for self and others; the increase of robberies, theft, vandalism, carjackings, and violent crimes, due also to the fact that they did not learn respect for others, themselves or the law.

*The Wrong Direction...

Another frightening effect this omission has had is the deterioration of our morals as a society. Sex has left our bedrooms, and is constantly shoved in our faces from virtually every corner (and billboard and TV commercial and movie theatre and magazine and book and...). Everything from games to deodorant to shampoo to cars to clothes and shoes implys that if you purchase/use their product or merchandise, the end result will assuredly be that the consumer will be sexy and/or likely to receive sex. I personally don't believe that a shampoo can be sexually fulfilling, but unfortunately, many young people who were never taught the basic and rudimentary facts about their sexuality from a caring, moralistic parent have developed a very warped view of sex. There are some children out there today that don't know the first thing about their bodies and the respectful way to treat themselves and others. And some of those children are getting an extremely distorted view of sex and sexuality from the advertisers and other media. (It's very upsetting that the concept these groups are promoting is that it is crucial to a person's happiness to be involved in sex whenever and however it can be accomplished.) Children who have not had the benefit of proper sexual education, frequently grow up to be adults that have a very warped view of sex. For example, the little boy who didn't have a father with strong moral fiber to look up to and obtain information from (too busy, absent, abusive), tends to grow up thinking the accepted way to have sex is any way you can, as often as you can, with whomever you can, and as immorally as you can, because he is pummeled with that image through pornography, and the uninformed and erroneous comments of other boys that have grown up in similar situations. Yet, all the while, other intelligent adults, teachers, counselors, and leaders are telling them, just as emphatically, not to have sex. But since it's also been instilled in everyone's head that kids are 'going to be' rebellious when they are young, and not having the earlier moral input, they wrongly conclude that they are 'expected' to disagree with the 'conservative adults' and proceed to follow the immoral examples pushed on them by the media and their peers. ( As a small child, 'Jerremy' was told by his mother "Sit still...Stop being naughty..." As 'Jerremy' grows up, he starts hearing references to 'forbidden' naughty pictures, and likely as not, without good values, he will be inclined to 'rebel against authority', and innocently begin a journey down an immoral path to an eventually promiscuous and unfulfilling adulthood, if this turns out to be his only resource for sex education, other than other equally uninformed peers.) This phenomena is becoming completely out of hand, as more and more children are passing on these harmful precepts to more and more generations of children.

*The Media...

There are many other ways that the oversight of teaching morals and good values to our children is corrupting our society. In my opinion, the advertising industry is largely responisble for this decline in values. I could site many commercials that give approval to immoral, unhealthy, disrespectful behavior. A couple of examples are: The fast food chain that urges family members to disregard the time, effort and love a mother has put into creating 'color-coded' preplanned meals so her family will have nutritious meals while she is away, and just let them go to waste, while the Dad and kiddies happily go off to eat unhealthy junk food. Or the paper towel company that fully approves of children terrorizing their homes, and encourages the Mom to say that it (their behavior) is okay, because she has purchased their product to follow the kids around and clean up all the messes they make. If children aren't taught to take responsibliity for their actions at an early age, it is doubtful they will just pick it up on their own in their future. I myself was fortunate enough to grow up in a loving, caring home filled with good values, with parents who are still happily married. And I can assure you my parents would never tolerate the improprieties endorsed by these advertisers. There is a multitude of examples of these kind of destructive, demoralizing advertisements. I'm sure, if you look through your 'morality glasses', that you should have no trouble spotting dozens of them yourselves.

THIS DESTRUCTIVE CYCLE MUST BE STOPPED!!

*A Solution??

Somehow, someway, we must take action to stop this vicious cycle, before we become a society overrun by decadence and disease! Although history can repeat itself, it is nowhere written in stone that it must or should! Strong, agressive action desperately needs to be implemented to put an end to this terrifying downward spiral we find ourselves in the midst of, before it is too late to save us from what will surely be an ugly and painful demise.

IT IS VITAL TO US AS A SOCIETY TO END THESE ATROCITIES NOW!!

I am praying for the survival of our spirituality as a society as we enter the new
millenium.
Shirley Marshall March 20, 1999

[ About Me [ ADCs [ Channeling [ Dreams and OBEs [ Haunting Tales [ Library [ Links [ Memorials [ Message Boards [ Messages from St.Germain [ Miscellaneouis Musings [ NDEs [ Ouija Boards [ Pet ADCs [ Essays [ Space Brothers [ Reincarnation [ Rings [ Soulmates [ Spirit Photos [ Spiritual Experiences [ Survey ] The Domain ]