Society would like to blind its conscience and pretend a code of ethical behavior does not exist. However, even a three-year-old has the ability to decipher between good and bad actions. Through observation of my own siblings and the children I have babysat, I have been able to see this awareness of morality.
Brothers will pull their sisters’ hair; sisters will break their brothers’ Lego forts. Yet, post-naughty behavior of these young children tends to consist in either a cowering due to shame or a pertinent denial of what has just occurred. Some simply run and hide to avoid the consequences; others boldly lie about what they have done—skewing their intentions and those of their playmates. The denial of what one has done can become quite an art form for some children who find a way to weasel themselves out of any situation and present justifications for their actions. Often times they are able to make the victim become the culprit.
I am not sure if it is simply from watching too much television, or if it is merely part of their personality, yet these children have the ability to pervert the truth and thereby convince adults of their innocence. However, these are children I am speaking of, they are not to be held completely culpable for what they do and their intentions cannot be seen as malicious as those of adults for they lack certain experience and knowledge.
Pause for a second, however, thinking about the how adults mature and pass this state of convoluting what is true to get their way or avoid punishment, shame, or dislike.
There is a great lack of maturity among adults today resulting in grown-up children who have never learned to deal with presenting the truth or facing its consequences. It appears that adults have been watching children and learning how to act from them, while children have no where to turn.
There are some things I believe impossible to convolute for the sake of spoiling oneself and easing one’s conscience. Killing people, for example, is intrinsically evil. However, modern society has produced adults that would like to kill babies because they may be burdensome, or perhaps cause embarrassment, or take away from one’s time to do things that “really matter.”
Killing another human being is a choice. Regardless of whether you wanted to have a baby or not, it is still your right to kill your child for, well, frankly, I have never been good at lying…so, I will leave that explanation to those adults who are. In this issue, Mike Blissenbach presents his views on abortion and finds it repulsive that Americans are not presented with the truth about such a life-changing process.
Katie Kieffer addresses the inability of film-makers to produce something that glorifies anything true. Plato would certainly be repulsed at the entertainment we soak in today—if you could call it entertainment. In Katie’s article the fallacies of Brokeback Mountain are laid naked and the ugly truth found in it shines quite clearly. This movie is a prime example of a work produced by adults who have well developed skills when it comes to lying and convoluting what is beautiful, good, and true.
My article addresses the behavior of those who have reacted negatively to the Danish cartoons. One cannot justify killing, destruction of public property, or disrespecting another country by burning its flag and screaming death threats. One cannot say it is fine for Muslim rioters to react in these ways simply because they are not used to the freedom of speech that the America upholds. Christians, for instance, do not react to the continual affronts to their religion and it is not merely because they are used to others offending them.
There is a good and a bad way to act. Some have learned to grow up; others still throw tantrums and cannot seem to deal with the truth when it is presented, and so, they make up their own rules.
Man was not made to succumb to his child-like ways. There is a problem with many adults today and my advice to them is “grow up!”
Comments
Post new comment