More than three decades as a senior pastor leads me to shout the question, "What in the world has happened to America's parents?" Have they gone mad, or do they just not care anymore? The signs suggest something is seriously amiss inside America's homes. As a pastor, I see this on a daily basis.
It seems that, for the most part, today's parents have little or no control over their children. Even in our churches, by the time a child reaches the ripe old age of two or three, he or she is out of control! I mean totally out of control! And by the time the child reaches five or six, he or she is spoiled beyond rotten! I mean deep down, through and through, the-world-revolves-around-me kind of spoiled!
What in the world has happened to America's parents? Perhaps the better question is, "What has happened to America's fathers?"
When I was growing up, there was no question who was in charge of our home. Dad was a mild mannered, soft spoken southerner, but there was no questioning his authority or his willingness to enforce the law. And by the law, I mean HIS law.
It did not matter to a hill of beans what anyone else thought about it: Dad, not Mom, made the rules, and bless God, I was made to comply! Believe me, Dad never hesitated to apply the board of education to the seat of knowledge!
My father taught me a work ethic by making me earn my allowance. He taught me the value of a dollar by making me save for things I wanted to buy. He taught me honesty by never accepting anything less than the truth. He taught me courage by making me face my difficulties head on. Furthermore, I was never given anything for which I cried or whined.
When I was old enough to get a car, Dad made me pay for it out of money I earned. I bought the gas and oil-and insurance, too. If the car needed repairing, I also paid for that. Beyond that, I never even had a credit card. Imagine.
Do you want more? I even worked and earned my way through college. Dad figured his job was getting me through high school. After that, I was on my own.
That is not to say that Dad was unwilling to help me from time to time. He did. But the burden of earning a living and feeding a family rested squarely on my own shoulders.
While living at home, we never went hungry, but seldom ate at restaurants or had fancy dinners. And the idea of "keeping up with the Joneses'" never entered our minds. In fact, I soon learned that the surest way to NOT get something was to begin my request with, "All the other kids have it."
I'm sure that to many modern day parents, my father would seem harsh, even brutish. I don't believe it. I have been able to successfully face the adult world and raise three children because of the values and principles I learned from my mother and father.
So, what has happened to that kind of man, to that kind of father? What has happened that has turned men into milquetoasts? How is it that big, strong men can be turned to mush by children?
Masculinity has nothing to do with how many pounds a man can lift at the gym, or how many packs of Budweiser beer he can consume before passing out, or how many women he can "score."
Masculinity involves taking leadership and responsibility. It makes a man get up and go to work, pay the bills, manage his finances, and discipline his children. It involves hard work and determination, commitment, and perseverance. Manhood, and especially fatherhood, is not for the weak or faint of heart. It requires sobriety and fidelity.
Yet, take a look around. What do we see? We see lazy, spoiled, self centered children. Children without discipline. Children without commitment. Children void of honesty or thrift.
No wonder our jails are packed to the point that judges are releasing criminals early due to lack of space. No wonder merchants keep raising prices to try and make up for losses due to theft and shoplifting. No wonder public school teachers have become little more than junior corrections officers. No wonder pharmaceutical companies are making a fortune selling behavior modification drugs to children. And since Dad won't control his kids, you can rest assured Big Brother will!
The problem is not the kids; the problem is the parents, especially the fathers!
The truth is, there are not too many problems confronting our country that could not be solved with old fashioned mothers and fathers who would pay the price to raise old fashioned hard working, independent, honest, well behaved, patriotic children!
Then again, it does seem to me that Uncle Sam and the powers that be really don't want Americans producing those kind of children, as that would put a monkey wrench in their plans for a New World Order. But that's a subject for another day.
© Chuck Baldwin
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