I awoke quite early this morning, stirred perhaps with what lies before my grandson, at least relative to my own life experience. Not only are we facing a troubling time with global terrorist activity, likely to increase, but it would also seem that few boundaries will exist morally when he begins making conscious decisions about his future and his family. These decisions will either provide a foundation upon which he may pursue personal happiness or will limit him and his potential offspring for their entire life!
As I write, I feel the threat of being criticized and as often I am, being less than politically correct. However, given that “courageous” is the word of the day, I too must speak authentically.
Freedom and liberty to choose should be the right of anyone. That is not what concerns me. It is the moral and social context within which my grandson will have to make those life limiting decisions.
These days, yesterday at the Y for instance, provide dear memories, as I watched a young boy developing. Already I am seeing him demonstrate similar gender preferences as come with the package I identify as maleness. He loves roughhousing, he seems to enjoy his first opportunities to swim, though somewhat distracted by a young girl two months his junior!
Perhaps all this is more us than him, these activities imposed by adoring family members. I know they come with sincere love, striving to provide everything that any young child might otherwise miss growing up. I don’t think this is bad.
Meanwhile, the culture that he will live into now applauds a very confused individual, whose life certainly had a similar front-end experience. With sports activities and the like, he apparently led a life disciplined toward excellence and even Olympic stardom. Yet, something must have gone awry internally at some point. We see a person emerging from “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” not only with stardom but now a new moral martyrdom like appeal. Where are we as a nation, with this sudden infatuation with reality shows? God help if this is reality?
I should leave that alone and count it as ill-advised entertainment, but not when a star emerges, modifies his bodies appearance then professes to have done it on behalf of all the children that might otherwise suffer had he/she not been courageous!
For friends of different sexual orientation, please allow me latitude to authentically express my concerns, regardless of opinion. That is by the way what freedom of speech is about. I am not a hate monger, just a grandfather feeling uneasy with all this.
Though now in my sixties, I remember the days of sexual experimentation, from early introductions to Playboy, drive-in theaters with girls who do and eventually an awareness that not all people play by the same rules when it comes to sexual pleasure. Throw in the challenges of a marriage gone badly, and an unexpected parent suicide. On top of all that, an affair that left a spouse pregnant, one already traumatized by a previous teen abortion. Both of us were young lovers, innocent in our desire to find a handle on life, but tainted by the life events we had been subjected to.
Both of us have now recovered, loving marriages, supportive family and active faith though we seldom see each other. In my life, there is a deep respect for the grounding that moral principles and societal boundaries provided during that time. As I write, my mind’s eye presents a metaphor and a feel for the appreciation one would have for guard rails had they lost control of their car on a high speed interstate. That would be the last place one would want the freedom to go airborne into the unknown woods!
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