Posted on 07/31/2012 2:18:50 PM PDT by jazusamo
Having been born in 1936 has allowed me to witness both societal progress and retrogression. High on the list of things made better in our society are the great gains in civil liberties and economic opportunities, especially for racial minorities and women. People who are now deemed poor have a level of material wealth that would have been a pipe dream to yesteryear's poor. But despite the fact that today's Americans have achieved an unprecedented level of prosperity, we have become spiritually and morally impoverished compared with our ancestors.
Years ago, spending beyond one's means was considered a character defect. Today not only do people spend beyond their means but also there are companies that advertise on radio and TV to eliminate or reduce your credit card and mortgage debt. Students saddled with college loans have called for student loan forgiveness. Yesterday's Americans would have viewed it as morally corrupt and reprehensible to accumulate debt and then seek to avoid paying it. It's nothing less than theft. What's worse is there's little condemnation of it by the rest of us.
Earlier this year, as a result of a budget crunch, the Philadelphia School District had to lay off 91 school police officers. During the 1940s and '50s, I attended Philadelphia schools in poor neighborhoods. The only time we saw a policeman in school was during an assembly period when we had to listen to a boring lecture about safety. Because teacher assaults are tolerated — 4,000 over the past five years in Philadelphia — school police are needed. Prior to the '60s, few students would have thought of talking back to a teacher, and no one would have cursed, much less assaulted, a teacher.
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Amen, and a good one.
I've watched as our schools and universities, and a large segment of society, have abandoned God as some sort of fiction to be laughed at.
What has followed has been steep decline - huge increases in crime and an ever increasing decline in national prosperity.
We know that God is aware of what has happened - and we know that judgement of the fire-and-brimstone type can't be very far away.
Well said and true, Ron.
It’s bizarre and in some cases downright scary what people will accept today in terms of behavior.
More than that, law is simply a mirror which is used to reflect society's values. Everything is culture - customs, traditions, moral values.
The U.S. has the world's richest and fattest poor people.
I’m 21 and people older than me sometimes tell me I remind them of their grandmother. I consider that high praise.
Good for you, Megan, it is definitely high praise.
Megan, you are restoring my faith in your generation. You are most deserving of the praise!
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