Childhood's End

Today in class, I overhead some of my charges discussing an upcoming birthday party. "We's goin' to the strip club. And if we can't get in, the strip club comin' to us." I reminded them that that wasn't all that appropriate for school. I was simultaneously thinking, "Oh God, these kids are so. . . confused." I don't know if she meant a male strip club or female strip club given how sexuality is so, shall we say fluid in these times, but either way. . . how is she thinking this is acceptable? If she's not merely bragging for her colleagues, is her mother involved in this? Is this done on the sly or is the mother there "to make sure no one gets hurt"? I can't see her pulling this off, she is far too immature and vacuous to convince anyone of being the age of majority, but still to even contemplate such an action. I truly grieve for the loss of her childhood.

The Real American Idols

This was a posting I created for Facebook, but given the nature of FB (and even this blog--ephemeral) I thought I'd repost it and add some commentary. I don't know that these are in any particular order and I also don't think that I am completely immune from the allure of some of them.

Here's an easy one:
SEX

America is obsessed with sex (and yet, I'd wager so is every other nation on earth, they just don't have billions of dollars to spend on advertising, entertainment media, and pornography.) We're fairly gnostic about the whole thing. Some claim our bodies don't matter "It's only my body, it's not like that's my soul or anything!" We don't celebrate sex among the aged (unless you count the erectile dysfunction commercials) or the infirm. No, the only bodies we want to see naked are air-brushed, slicked-up, photo-shopped, and muscular and toned. I think we're scared of any other kind of body.

Money

Again, not something particular to America, but we have the mass media infrastructure to either showcase those who have it (to wake the green-eyed monster) or to constantly blather on about how much more you can make with this program, and don't you deserve better, and if you can't pay for it now simply charge it. All of us bear some blame for this current economic crisis. Sure, some of us didn't take huge loans with no possible way to pay back, but did we curb our consumerism? Hardly! That's Un-American--after all, our entire economy is G.O.D.'s--Grow Or Die! And now look at it. If you decide to stop consuming needlessly you might be put on the Department of Homeland Security's list of potential Right-Wing Extremists.

Celebrity

Who doesn't want to be famous for something? How many of us jump up and down, frantically waving our hands when the TV cameras are present for the accident? How many of us eat up People magazine, TMZ, and all kinds of celebrity gossip? Why, we'll watch someone who's simply famous for being famous. I don't know about you, but I am so thankful that my local newscast will forego truly interesting stories about my community in favor of Miley Cyrus' latest comment or what new project Brangelina are working on to fill our vacuous lives. Somewhere between sex and celebrity is the hinge of youth.

Autonomy

This one is a bit trickier--perhaps more insidious, since it's less obvious. Autonomy intrinsically, like sex, is a good thing. We should strive to rule ourselves--with virtue--but we in the West have radicalized it. Now it's "You can't judge me--only God can judge me!" "Who the fuck are you to tell me how to live my life?" On and on. I'm not interested in telling you how to live your life, but sir, madam, hardly any of your choices are truly private. How you choose to live in many ways affects me and my children. Perhaps if you'd think of others once in a while, beside your highly divinized self, maybe, just maybe we wouldn't have all the problems we do right now. "Choice" is this idol's sister.

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

This is the most recent idol seen in these parts for it requires a bastard form of Christianity (or perhaps Judaism). Here are the tenets of MTD:
1) God exists and He made everything.
2) He doesn't do much these days except leave pennies and dimes for me to find.
3)He certainly doesn't expect to lay any demands on my life.
4)God does, however, want me to be happy, hence #2.
5)The highest virtue, in fact, is for me to be happy.
6)The only true moral code to live by is "Be Nice," unless that interferes with #5 (can you see the idol of autonomy creeping in here?)
7)If I follow #5 and 6 then surely, when I die, I will receive my reward in Heaven.

What other idols could you add to this list?

Safely in the grasp of Heaven

I can compare partaking in my daughter's baptism today to only three other events in my life: my wedding, her birth, and my son's birth. There is a holy pride (if such a thing exists) bursting forth as she descends into Christ's death and rises up a new creation. The thing is a mystery--how it all works--and yet so tangible. The wet of water, the grasping of hands, the flame of lit candles.


What a glorious day to be baptized! Easter 2009. He lives, not just in my heart, but by the power of the Holy Spirit is immanent in all of His creation. The sun was just a bit brighter and warmer today.





The one disappointment? Entering the East side of the baptismal fount and exiting at the West. Ah, the joys of ahistorical Evangelicalism!

I like TED

Here's an interesting talk about two of my favorite subjects: bees and native landscapes.

Getting to the Point

My Mass Media students claimed this as a virtue in defense of short magazine articles recently. I've seen this preference show up before too. It seems that if something is more than, say a few paragraphs, or beyond two pages, then it's too long and all sorts of moaning occurs. If something is short, well then, it gets to the point, and if it's long obviously the writer is belaboring the point. While there is truth to this in some situations, I think it speaks more to the students' inability to concentrate on any one subject for a significant length of time than anything else. Essentially, if you can't sum up the argument for the existence of God in a two-premise syllogism, you are taking too long to get to the point. If you can't explain why you should spend the rest of your life with one particular person in a few sentences, you're going on and on and on. If you can't "get to the point" about any important, life-altering issue in 30 seconds, you are wasting my time. No wonder I have so many failures on my grade record.
I wonder if they feel the same way about movies--skip this exposition crap: get to the car chases, explosions, and jiggling breasts already. They want fish flies when life is about oak trees and tortoises. They want microwave when serious, hard, deep explanations are warranted.
Not all students are like this, of course, but too many are. Unfortunately, so are their parents.