Ratcheting Down Again

Decades ago a child was a child. That is how it was meant to be and children for the most part were faced and dealt with issues no more sophisticated than what they could handle or was healthy for them. Being bullied over their lunch money was probably the most difficult and complex issue a child faced in the Leave-It-To-Beaver era. Otherwise children didn’t have a lot to stress about nor was their much to challenge their developing social, psychological and emotional systems. This allowed children to develop and grow up healthy, reinforced by positive messages from their parents, church and school. By the time they became adults and were whole, they were able to field adult issues, without being strayed off course or thrown into a harmful ditch.

For instance, most of us adults could go to a rap concert tomorrow night and walk out of the arena and not want to look, talk or act like a gangster rapper. Long ago we figured out who we are, what we are not, what works for us and frankly what doesn’t. Children, not being fully developed or mature, are often influenced by what they see, repeat it, and sometimes just become it.

Growing up today versus in the Leave-It-To-Beaver era, is different for two reasons. One, many children are left unsupervised because of the breakdown of the family. Two, the media is throwing a slew of adult issues at children -- drugs, alcohol, violence, sex, 4-letter words, suicide, and the gay-life style. Children are exposed to these adult issues in all sorts of ways in culture USA, in movies, on TV, and in the music they listen to. As a result, they are faced with tough adult questions that frankly they aren’t mature enough to deal with successfully. Should I have sex or not, try drugs/ alcohol or not, take this problem into my own hands, speak in 4-letter words, and what is my sexual preference -- for men or women?

Hence, this brings me to Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn Jenner. Having lived in New York City for years, I know he/she is not the first transgender person in the world. That’s a personal choice and who am I or anyone else to say what is best for him/her. I don't know. My concern is Jenner is probably the first one to break through the cultural barrier and go coast to coast media-wise. Now expect to see the transgender life-style institutionalized in our society and mixed into the pop culture over the next few years. Add another tough adult question to the mix that society is throwing at our children -- am I really a male or female?

This is an earth shattering ratcheting up of the ball of confusion thrown at children – pressing them to question such a fundamental trait as their sexual identity. The situation can’t get any more fundamental than that. Children are not socially, psychologically and emotional developed enough to field all these adult and sometimes profound questions.

When you have a baby bird that is trying to grow up and do it right, you don’t throw it out in a Category 5 hurricane. You nurture it so it develops unencumbered and fully. More and more children will continue to fumble these adult issues and questions, and be throw off course into ditches of negative consequences in life.

Our country was built on at least four pillars I could see: Morality (knowing what is right and wrong), economic (ability to far out produce the rest of the world), spiritual (believing in what God taught, adhering to it and fearing Him) and a social pillar (the relationships between a diverse people or within the mass of society). I used to think we were only in decline economically, but I have to say all pillars seem to be cracking. Just look at what our culture and the media is doing to our society and the profound effect it is and will continue to have on our children in their most formable years.