Do We Really Love Our Children?

For those not familiar with the story, The Picture of Dorian Gray, it is about a man who makes a deal with the devil that allows him to keep his youthful, handsome appearance while a portrait of him, kept hidden, shows the state of his soul. Bewitched by the façade of his external appearance, he becomes the epitome of evil, and it is reflected in his portrait. In the end, he is forced to pay the moral debts he has incurred.

Our world is an ugly world. Like Dorian Gray, we dress it up in technology and pretty adornments, but we are ugly. We cannot escape. And now we are being forced to come face to face with the truth.

We have bequeathed to our children a world with AIDS, pollution, destruction of natural resources, endangered species, a dependence on finite energy sources, threats to usable land and water, and a myriad of other problems that should never have occurred. We should have known better, and our children know it. We have shown them that we didn’t care about the world we left them, and they know it.

We have created a world where the wealthy get wealthier and children born into poverty are not considered worthy of our attention. Even now, our government is looking to eliminate the inheritance tax which will virtually guarantee poverty for a large segment of our population. What help is given to the poor is inadequate- never enough to stop the suffering.

Our movies teach children that violence is an acceptable solution to an argument. Television shows and films are full of people who resort to physical force to accomplish their objectives. Many of them are considered heroes. We also see sports and film stars as heroes. Because of some anatomical good fortune, they are seen as people to emulate regardless of their behavior. Domestic violence, rape, murder, and other crimes are often overlooked by a society more interested in living vicariously through the lives of others.

We seek answers to the unanswerable questions from psychics, seers, radio and television personalities, and advice columnists. We indulge ourselves and grow fat and lazy. We tell our children not to drink and head for the liquor cabinet first thing after work. We swallow pills with abandon looking for them to solve our problems. We throw our elderly into homes so they won’t interfere with our busy lives.

Watching the news and reading newspapers fill our children’s lives with the hopelessness of a world lost in violence. There are drive-by shootings, home invasions, random acts of violence, workplace shootings, domestic violence, and other murderous acts. Then, if that isn’t enough, there is horrible violence all over the globe as groups of people seek to wipe each other out in the name of ethnic purity or territorial rights.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic