I've just seen an introspective movie, so you'll have to forgive the following most obvious insights. I don't have a therapist, this is my cheap alternative.
If there is one thing I've learned (and there's not, but I'm just trying to sound deep and profound) through studying history, life experience, travel and the like, it's that people don't change. At least not that much. Let me explain for those who are my underground conscientious objectors. People don't change. Either a person is one committed to changing and bettering himself, or he's not. That, most likely, will never change.
Those who cheat, steal, lie, manipulate and justify their behavior are the ones who will not change, short of an act of God. That is not to say that those who lie, cheat, et al and did so out of genuine ignorance and experience a tremendous conversion (Saul of Tarsus comes to mind), cannot change. Those are often the only people who do.
There are really three kinds of people in the world. (I could be totally off...again, just go with me on the profundity...okay?) There are those who always seek to do right, long to contribute to society and make a difference in the world. There are those who live in the dark, aimlessly wandering, bumping into all manner of obstacles, but then encounter a light. Plato's Cave is a phenomenal analogy of this situation. Then, there are those who have experienced both worlds but choose darkness. Tell tale signs of either disposition can be seen quite young, in the teen years, I believe.
It is vitally important that people not diminish the formative years that are adolescence. I am angered by those who dismiss teenagers as stupid, self-centered, impossible, etc. Yes, they can be these things, sometimes all at once, but they are not defined as such at all times. Those are the years in which they form opinions that will last with them for the rest of their lives. Those are the years in which their character is truly shaped.
I think the liberals know this and that is why the educations system and the entertainment industry is as it is. Keep a teen from thinking, keep him feeling, and you'll have him forever.
C.S. Lewis spoke of this in The Screwtape Letters. Wormwood and Screwtape are writing back and forth and Wormwood says, "Our Father [Satan] wants cattle that will eventually become feed. The Enemy {God} wants men who will eventually become sons." (Possible paraphrase due to book's absence.) How true. What a responsibility we have to the next generation.
Alright, I'm done. If you stuck with me all through, you should either be commended or given a better task to do because clearly you must be bored. :)
Thanks for reading. ~Me
Posted by Portia at July 6, 2005 11:18 PMsome people like to stay in their caves because it's all they know, and they don't want to risk anything else. they want to play it safe.
yes, I'm bored.
Posted by: MacStansbury at July 7, 2005 12:42 AMHey - two posts in one day! Score! You should housesit more often.
As for the cave, creatures that live there find the light painful when they are exposed to it, and the longer they go without, the more painful it becomes. Eventually they lose their sight altogether, like those albino cave fish that over generations became totally blind.
Parents often tell their kids to "go out and play" for their own good when they coop themselves up in front of the tv or video games. For the same reason, parents need to expose our children to the "light" from an early age, and regularly, even if they flinch and throw up their hands.
Posted by: The Night Writer at July 7, 2005 08:25 AM
